Risen
by Krys Griffin
Summary: Albus had a fool-proof plan for Harry's life… that is until Vernon did his best to kill it. Follow Lia Monroe (Harriett Potter) as she struggles to figure out what it means to be human, to be a witch, to form friendships, and to survive the mad house that is Hogwarts.
1. A Place of Beginnings

Risen – The tale of Lia Monroe

* * *

J. K. Rowlings, I am not… you're reading Fan Fiction. If you are not new to the genre, there will likely be things you've seen before as well as, hopefully, some rather new stuff. This isn't about putting Harry Potter in an original work of fiction, but seeing how the story will unfold given a few interesting twists (at least in my opinion). If you don't like it, so what… I'm not forcing you to read this thing.

Albus had a fool-proof plan for Harry's life… that is until Vernon did his best to kill it. Follow Lia Monroe (Harriett Potter) as she struggles to figure out what it means to be human, to be a witch, to form friendships, and to survive the mad house that is Hogwarts.

Slow-Metamorph, Fem Harry with Ochlophobia triggering Algophobia and Elective Mutism – HP/NT/NL/DG Betrothal

* * *

-RISEN-

A place of beginnings

* * *

Death shook her head, face shadowed in the ebony folds of her cowl, as she watched the fools celebrate the fall of the dark child. Sure, the dark fool was her grandson, but he was scared of her and twisted her sister's gift in such foolish ways, using his minions to sow chaos and fear. She really couldn't care less, as it would help her minions collect a few more souls tonight from the drunken revelers while the broken one's minions rage and search for their fallen 'Master'. You would think the fools her sister Hecate had blessed with magic, wanted to die; Dropping everything to party on the word of one old man with no proof, completely disregarding their own rules regarding those with her sister's gift and those without it.

Turning her attention to the child before her, the youngest of her grandchildren, Death sighed, rubbing the dull ache throbbing in her forehead. Her cousins, Destiny and Fate, must really hate her granddaughter to have placed such a burden on her. The old man who told everyone the dark child was gone had used Hecate's gift to him to try limiting that gift in her chosen, as if a mortal could usurp the will of the gods; he just drew even more attention to the babe.

The old man and his minions, the stern cat and the great simple beast, had left the babe here on the back steps of her mother's sister's house hours ago, ignoring the thick icicles hanging above her and the inch think layer of unseasonal snow everywhere; No basket, no warming charms, no wards of any kind to protect her from stray animals or other miscreants… nothing but a letter. Ankou Fiona had already been by here to collect the babe, but cousins Fate and Destiny had prevented her from carrying out her duties; which is why Death herself was now here, in person, staring at a dead baby on the doorstep, but couldn't collect her soul; though she did collect the remnants of darkness clinging to the child.

Oh, no… the old man couldn't have even had the _decency_ to leave her on the FRONT steps so the milkman or postman could have found and rescued her. Death shook her head again. Perhaps it was time to create a new Hallow… something only one of her own blood could use. She'd already given her right pinky, her left eye, and part of her own shroud… what would she use for the next one? Maybe her blood itself?

She'd have to think about it… it's not like this babe, the last of her blood, was going to pass beyond anytime soon.

-RISEN-

The next night, Tuesday the third of November 1981, Petunia Dursley opened the back door of her house to take the trash out and screeched in fear. She had a son that was not quite a year and a half old, so knew that that color was all wrong for the babe on her back step, but didn't think to check if the child was alive or not, simply bringing the babe into the house so the neighbors wouldn't see and her husband could call Child Protective Services.

Vernon would have done just that if it hadn't been for the letter; and they knew it was the letter that compelled them to keep the babe, even though it spoke of a boy when the babe was clearly a girl. As for the babe being her sister's child, bah, no way; that Dumbledore fellow must have bewitched her, or done some other freaky thing, to make her eyes look like Lily's, but even then they wouldn't stay the same hue for very long. Well… those freaks must be watching them somehow; and Vernon's right, we may not be able to get rid of the girl yet, but that doesn't mean we would keep her either, treat her bad enough and they would _have_ to take her… no IT away.

We'll keep this _Thing_ for the _Freaks_ until they come to take it away, and they will rue this day _forever_.

-RISEN-

Darkness is all it knew.

It scarcely remembered what 'light' was; oh but it remembered the pain in the light… when it was called 'Freak.'

Now it had no name; but that was okay, it needed none in the darkness.

It shifted to a more comfortable position as the last one began to cause it minor pain. There wasn't much room in the darkness, but there was enough; at least for now.

The darkness did seem to be getting smaller though, and it didn't know what would happen if the darkness ever became to small for it.

It wasn't worried however, that was a concern for later.

It was comfortable once more and embraced the darkness, deciding not to think about anything at all.

-RISEN-

The overly large man with a very bushy mustache sat at his kitchen table, looking very walrus-like, alternating between staring at the frightening letter in his hand and the walled off section beneath the stairs where he'd hidden it.

Those Freaks had dropped it off in the dead of night with a letter saying it was his wife's _nephew_ ; but it wasn't human, it couldn't be. He'd done all he could to beat the freakishness out of it, remembering when he hit it so hard he broke its' neck… but it got back up.

He'd taken a cricket bat to it, railway spikes, acid, fire, everything he could think of… it just wouldn't die. So he'd walled it into that little cupboard under the stairs.

That was years ago, he doubted Duddums even remembers it had once been in the house.

But now… another letter… an _Invitation_ …

It _couldn't_ be alive still… could it?

They couldn't stay here. The Freaks would come looking for it. Well they could bloody well have it, he'd never wanted it anyway.

Quickly gathering his wife and sons, and enough provisions for an extended stay at his sister's place in Wales, the Dursley family fled before someone came looking for it, and why it hadn't responded to the letter.

-RISEN-

Hagrid was confused.

He'd followed Dumbledore's instructions and followed the magical compass here.

But where is the little tyke? The house is empty.

Maybe the Headmaster had given him the wrong compass. He'd just have to pick up the package at Gringott's then check in at the school again.

He was sure it was nothing.

-RISEN-

Albus sighed as he thought about Hagrid's report about Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surry; absent mindedly flipping the magical compass in his hand.

It was such a simple job. Follow the compass, pick up the child, go to Gringott's, pick up Nicholas' package, don't let the Potter Account Manager get anywhere near the child. Then ditch him outside the Leaky Caldron, so Molly could help him on the First.

At least he retrieved the Stone; now where's the boy? He had to be there, the compass couldn't be wrong, it was tracking his blood.

His father had bound his magic to prevent accidental outbursts, his mother had bound his form to keep the muggle neighbors from seeing anything they shouldn't, and Albus himself had tweaked both before adding more to those bindings; so he couldn't have used magic to hide, he had to be there.

He called his Deputy in and tasked her to investigate. It would cause problems later he was sure, but nothing too onerous; he could always Obliviate her and use more Compulsion Charms and Loyalty Potions; it would be fine.

-RISEN-

Albus' request was odd, go to 4 Privet Drive and retrieve Harry Potter, sure, but bring him to the castle directly rather than taking him to Diagon Alley as all the Muggleborn and Raised were? That wasn't right… unless the headmaster was thinking of taking the boy shopping himself; Yes… that must be it.

She had a vague sense of Déjà Vu, but would swear she'd never been here before. After searching the attic, the basement, and all the rooms in between, even the shed out back, Minerva was confused, where was the boy? Albus was adamant he was here.

She must be missing something.

Deciding to try one last thing before going back, she cast _Homenum Revelio_ and really didn't like the results.

This was not good.

-RISEN-

It ignored the noises from beyond the darkness.

The ones from before had left it here, safe in the darkness, so anything from beyond didn't matter.

There was a loud pop, and it was startled as it was no longer alone in the darkness.

Something grabbed it.

With another loud pop, it was no longer in the darkness.

And it was scared.

-RISEN-

* * *

-AN- I decided to seek out a bit of feed back on this... that means 'constructive criticism' is welcome. I'm not a huge fame of s'mores so keep your trolly flames to yourself.


	2. Resurrection

-RISEN-

Resurrection

* * *

Her House-Elf, Cami, had answered her summons as always, checking for, finding, and quickly retrieving the child in the space under the stairs; but she desperately hoped the strange bundle of rags and bones before her wasn't the 'Savior of the Wizarding World.' She had thought it dead when it first appeared before her, until it moved; a silent cry of anguish crossing its' tiny features, then it opened its' milky white, green tinted eyes.

Without thinking, she gathered the child to her and Apparated to the healer she trusted the most; Andromeda would know what to do.

-RISEN-

Andromeda took the child from Minerva very gently and laid it on the examination table, dimming the lights when she noticed the pain on its' features.

"Personal Recording on… Master Recording on… Case Number SML-19910628- AT-15. Examination of child, at the request of Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; Friday, June 28th, 1991, by Andromeda Tonks, Senior Healer and Director of the Children's Ward of St. Mungo's, London. Present for the examination are myself, Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and my assistant, Healer Wanda Waters, third year intern. Professor, please explain the circumstances around your discovery of the child."

Minerva, who had been staring at the child on the table, gave a little start when she was addressed, "I… I was asked by Albus to check on a child who had not replied to the Hogwarts Invitation. I had the oddest feeling about the place when I got there, like I'd been there before, but can't for the life of me remember when; but then all the houses around there look so similar, it could just be a coincidence."

"Go on," Andromeda prompted when Minerva fell silent.

"Oh, I searched the house, top to bottom, even the shed in the back yard. I wouldn't normally have done that, but Albus was so insistent that the boy was there."

"Pause Master Recording. What boy where you looking for?"

"Harry Potter."

"Ms. Waters, please contact the MLE and request immediate assistance with this matter. It would seem there is another child missing still."

"Yes, ma'am," the intern said sharply and left to fulfill her orders.

"Another?" Minerva asked.

"This child is female Minerva," Andromeda said sadly, pointing to the diagnostic charms displayed on the side of the bed, then noticed an odd peculiarity she'd only seen in one other person so far, her daughter, "hold on, that…" she pointed at one of the displayed readings, trying to ignore the ones that were blatantly contradictory, "perhaps there isn't another."

"What do you mean?"

"This child is a Metamorphmagus."

Just then, Ms. Waters returned with two Aurors in tow, "Aurors Sharp and Kilson, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Ms. Waters."

"Director Tonks, Senior Auror Sharp; we were told there was a child missing? We need a location to start ma'am."

Minerva turned to the Aurors, "Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surry."

Andromeda stopped Auror Kilson as he went to leave, "You should know, the child in question is Harry Potter, however, this child, found at that location, is a Metamorphmagus. There is the possibility that there may not be another child, but the condition of _this_ child warrants investigation anyway. I had planned to contact your department after this exam, but the possibility of another child _demanded_ immediate action."

"Understood ma'am. Anything else?"

"She was found in the space under the stairs," Minerva said quietly, "I used my House-Elf to pull her out of there."

"Thank you, Professor. I'll be off to Surry then," Kilson said looking to Sharp, who simply nodded, before departing.

Ms. Waters, who had begun copying the girls diagnostics onto her chart to comparison later, suddenly screamed and jumped away from the bed.

"Ms. Waters! Control yourself!" Andromeda snapped.

"Va… va… vam… pire…" she stammered shakily pointing to the heartrate charm.

"True, the girl has no heartbeat, but none of the other indicators are present."

Andromeda resumed narrating the examination, "Resume Master Recording. Patient's limbs are stiff and difficult to straighten, suggesting prolonged disuse. No indication of 'bed sores,' suggesting either some movement was possible or an extraordinary healing ability, though the appearance of the girl's dermis would preclude that possibility if not for her Metamorph traits, which may be holding the damage seen as a means to defer further damage. Evidence of fire and or acid damage to her entire visible posterior dermis. Ms. Waters, come over here and help me get the girl laid out straight." The intern reluctantly approached the bed again, sitting the chart to the side, "My lord…" Andromeda gasped when they turned the girl onto her back, "patient has what appears to be a steel spike through her heart."

-RISEN-

Auror Kilson's team approached the house. They had been informed that they were looking for evidence of child abuse, and possibly a missing child, within a muggle home. Most of them thought this was a training exercise, which was fine with Kilson, they'd learn soon enough, one way or another.

Pollux, cast the ward detection spell, but the readings were so faint she had Fornell, the team's Wardbreaker check her findings; he couldn't determine what they were supposed to be, but could tell that they posed no danger to the team.

Kilson watched as the team executed a textbook search and clear of the house, before starting to search for any possible evidence of either a missing child, or child abuse. Family photographs indicated a family of three occupied the home, a Walrus like man, a Giraffe like woman, and what could only be the man's bloated son.

Kilson then approached the wall beneath the stairs with Loxley, "We need to open this, carefully."

"You suspect something?"

"Let's just say, something was retrieved from here this morning that led to this little endeavor."

Loxley's eyes widened before she nodded her head and began casting careful Cutting Curses to peel the wall away.

The rest of the team, seeing what Kilson and Loxley were doing to the wall under the stairs, redoubled their efforts using spells to uncover hidden spaces within the house.

-RISEN-

It didn't know what was going on, but it knew it wasn't in any new pain yet, despite the light it could perceive. It had learned early to not make a sound, but the noises around it roused its' curiosity. After such a long time in the darkness, where it had not needed to focus on anything, trying to find the sources of the noises around it was very difficult.

As the world came into focus, it saw beings like the ones that had hurt it before its' time in the darkness. One was very focused on it, while the others paid it little notice. The one focused on it suddenly moved, causing it a sharp pain as a long thing the ones before the darkness had put in it was pulled back out. The noises of the others rose sharply as another form of darkness overcame it once more.

-RISEN-

"Wanda!" Director Tonks shouted in alarm.

"What? You wanted to take it out slowly?" She replied, seemingly unconcerned about her boss' ire.

"As a matter of fact, I wanted to make sure removing it wouldn't harm her further."

"She looked at me," Ms. Waters said softly.

"What?" Minerva asked.

"She," the intern said again pointing at the girl on the bed, "looked at me. I could tell she didn't know what was going on, but… I don't know. I just had to pull this thing out." She tossed the old, rusty railway spike on the examination table.

"She looked at you?" Minerva persisted, "when I brought her here, her eyes were milky white of blindness. Even if she moved them in your general direction she would have seen you."

"No… they were clear green… sparkling even. I've never seen such eyes before."

Andromeda gently pried one eye open to reveal dark emerald orbs, then jumped in shock at the heart monitoring charm activated.

"We need to know who this girl is," Auror Sharp said firmly.

"Yeah," the intern agreed, "Too bad the goblins won't let us perform inheritance tests here. We'll have to take her to Gringott's."

"We need to amend that stupid treaty," Andromeda griped, "There's no sense in not being able to perform those tests for medical reasons here. We'd even allow the goblins an office of their own if they wanted damn it. There's no sense in it."

"Is it safe to move her?"

"Yes, Minerva. You didn't hurt her. When she wakes again, Auror Sharp and I will take her to the goblins. I'm going to claim temporary custody of the girl as she will need a lot of medical care in the near future… burn salves and scar reducers at minimum, probably a mind healer as well… my daughter can help as a fellow Metamorph… you would think I'd have been informed about another being born."

"Will you let me know when you can?"

"Of course, Minerva. We'll have to set her up for Hogwarts when she's old enough… provided we can get her to read, write, and speak by then," Andromeda said kindly to her old friend, then addressed the recording charms, "Resume Master Recording. Removal of spike induced resumption of cardiac functions. End of initial examination, unknown Metamorphmagus female, 28 June, 1991. Archive to case number SML-19910628- AT-15-A, supplemental information to follow Gringott's Identity Confirmation and observation. Temporary custodian, Andromeda Tonks, Senior Healer and Director of the Children's Ward of St. Mungo's, London. Master recording off. Personal recording off."

-RISEN-


	3. Gringott's Pt1 - Identity Confirmed

-RISEN-

Gringott's Part 1 – Identity Confirmation

* * *

Even though it was after midnight when the girl awakened, the girl's sensitivity to light caused Andromeda to ignore the standard 'daytime' hours and take her to Gringott's, knowing the goblin run bank would be open regardless of the late hour. One thing Andromeda really noticed, was how quiet the girl was, as if all sound she made was suppressed, even the crinkling of the hospital mattress she had lain upon for the examination had been missing; though she hadn't realized that until she herself had sat on the edge of the bed to help dress the girl. She seemed to understand some of what was going on around her and would respond to yes or no questions to some degree, when she would focus on you, though even when it looked like she would try to speak no sound came forth. For instance: if you asked her name, she'd tilt her head to the side and bite her lower lip for a moment, almost like the word started with an F sound; but if you asked her her age she would just stare at you blankly. It was very disconcerting.

The girl had been very skittish as well, as if she expected every movement to cause her pain, and she watched everything.

Slide-Along Apparating the girl with her, from the lobby of St. Mungo's to Diagon Ally, was a shock to the young Metamorph, and had Andromeda not had a firm grip on the girl, she might have run away like the freighted rabbit she resembled. It took nearly ten minutes to calm the girl enough to walk through the deserted alley, past all the closed shops, and up to the tall white building guarded by goblins in scarlet and black uniforms beneath gold armor and deadly looking weapons. Curiously, the girl had no fear of the small beings, but was startled when one of them turned to watch her as her nose elongated into a point similar to the one on the guard's own face. It was almost as if she was afraid of herself however, not the guard.

As they approached the goblin teller on duty, the goblin asked surly, "What do you want wizards?"

Auror Timmons, who had replaced Auror Sharp several hours previously, replied, trying to remain as civil as possible, "Good evening. We are in need of an Identity Verification Test. Would you have someone available to assist us at present?"

"Twenty-five Galleons, to third generation. One hundred Galleons to tenth generation."

"Three generations is fine, please. Charge it to my account… Andromeda Tonks."

"As you wish," the goblin spat some confusing sounds into a cone of some kind on his desk, then said, "follow Griphook. Nornuk will perform the examination you require."

"Follow me," another goblin stated sharply before turning and walking away, not even checking to see if the three humans were trailing him.

-RISEN-

It was confused. The… people… yes people, with it had done something very uncomfortable to it and everything changed from a bright room to a dark not room. It had tried to hide, but they wouldn't let it. Then they took it to a new room, with very different looking people in it. It did something it wasn't expecting as it entered the room, and was scared it had done something wrong again, that these people would give it more pain.

They talked to it sometimes, but it didn't know what they wanted. There was less pain in being quiet than being wrong… so it stayed quiet.

It didn't know why they brought it to this place. It thought it best to stay keeping quiet.

-RISEN-

After walking though what felt like a labyrinth of corridors for the next five minutes or so, Griphook suddenly stopped, rapt on a door, then opened it and went in without waiting for a reply. The three humans followed him in.

Nornuk, or at least Andromeda assumed the goblin in the room was Nornuk, pointed at a bowl on his desk and simply said, "three drops."

Getting three drops of blood from the girl was difficult. She looked very scared of the silver blade needed to prick her finger for the blood, and she healed extremely quickly, which even appeared to fascinate the two goblins in the room. Once the necessary three drops were in the bowl, it flashed gold, catching the girl's eye and she watched in awe as the parchment the bowl was perched on began to fill with writing.

~₲ṝḬἢᶃṍỻṧ~

Bloodline Examination and Inheritance Certification

Bloodline to Third Generation

Originator – Harriett Lillian Potter, Metamorph

Patrilineal line – first generation: James Charlus Potter; second generation: Charlus Henry Fleamont-Potter, Dorea Lacerta Potter nee Black; third generation: Henry Linfred Potter, Euphemia Norma-Jean Potter nee Fleamont, Cygnus Aquilla Black, Jr., Violetta Martina Bulstrode

Matrilineal line – first generation: Lily Jasmine Potter nee Evans (Ralston); second generation: Daniel Xavier Ralston (squib), Heather Persephone Evans nee Goodspeak (squib); third generation: George Wilber Ralston (squib), Emily Helena Ralston nee Williams (squib), John Jacob Goodspeak (muggle), Daisy Iona Goodspeak nee McGonagall

Inheritance of Linked Houses within Three Generations or Personnes

Heiress Apparent of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, - by birth (descendent of Potter line)

Heiress Apparent of the Great, Noble, and Most Ancient House of Slytherin – by birth (descendent of Cadmus Peverell's younger brother Ignotus, via termination of elder branch of the Peverell line) and conquest (Defeat of Tom Riddle of Gaunt, last of line)

Heiress Apparent, Avenger of the Great, Noble, and Most Ancient House of Hufflepuff, - Defeat of Tom Riddle of Gaunt who ended the line outside the Forms of Kanly, commonly referred to as Vendetta or Blood Feud

Tertiary Heiress, Daughter of the Great, Noble, and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor, via Athena Ralston nee Greene, via Illyana Greene nee Rasputin, via Georgina Rasputin nee Gryffindor

Heiress Designate of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, et al., as named by Lord Sirius Orion Black, III (Godfather) & Heiress Tertiary of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black via Dorea Potter nee Black

Heiress Apparent, Avenger of the Most Ancient House of Monroe, - Defeat of Tom Riddle of Gaunt who ended the line outside the Forms of Kanly, commonly referred to as Vendetta or Blood Feud; Noble status suspended 5 August 1962 (Reactivation eligible 31 July 1995)

Heiress Apparent of the Most Ancient House of Peverell, - by birth (descendent of Ignotus Peverell upon ending of elder branch of the Peverell line), Noble status suspended 24 March 1603 (Reactivation eligible 31 July 1995)

Heiress Apparent of the Elder House of Gaunt, - by birth (descendent of Slytherin, descendent of Peverell) and conquest (Defeat of Tom Riddle of Gaunt, last of line), Noble status revoked 15 July 1799

Heiress of the Venerable House of Ralston, via Lily Jasmine Potter nee Evans (Ralston)

9th Heiress, Daughter of the Elder House of McGonagall, via Lily Jasmine Potter nee Evans (Ralston), via Heather Persephone Ralston nee Goodspeak, via Daisy Iona Goodspeak nee McGonagall

14th Heiress, Daughter of the Venerable House of Bulstrode, via Dorea Potter nee Black, via Violetta Bulstrode

Heiress Apparent of the Magical House of Evans (Initiated by Lily Jasmine Evans (Ralston), Sponsored by House Potter)

Heiress Apparent of the Magical House of Fleamont via Melinda Potter nee Fleamont (Initiated by Albert Fleamont, Sponsored by House Muldoon)

~₲ṝḬἢᶃṍỻṧ~

"So she is Harry… Harriett Potter. What the hell? Heiress of three noble houses, tertiary to a fourth… fifth… what's this 'Designated, of Black'? Wait, LORD Sirius Black? Didn't he lose his Inheritance Rights either by being banished from the family, or convicted and sent to Azkaban?" Andromeda asked.

"Gringott's has no record of such occurrences," Nornuk stated bluntly.

"Right. I'll need four copies of that test, please, charge them to my account as well. Timmons, take one to Amelia in the morning, she needs to know about this as soon as she gets in. Nornuk, please place the original in the Potter Vault for safe keeping, and a copy in Harriett's Trust Vault. I'll keep one, or pass it on to her guardian if I can't keep custody of her. Would Gringott's have a record of who the Law Wizard of Record is for House Potter? The last copy is for the Potter Solicitor. If not, I'm sure my husband would be thrilled to assume the post… even temporarily."

Ten minutes and another freighting Slide-Along Apparition later, Andromeda was once again trying to calm the girl; though this time she was coaxing the girl up the stairs of her house to meet her daughter, Nymphadora, at the same time; all the while, one question kept repeating in her mind, 'How did I not know Harry was a Metamorph?'

-RISEN-


	4. An Unspeakable Year, Today

-RISEN-

An Unspeakable Year, Today

* * *

Albus sat at his desk waiting on his Deputy to arrive. He was a bit cross with her for not reporting back to him about Harry Potter yesterday, but it mattered little in the grand scheme of things… so long as the boy came to Hogwarts as the pliable, malleable, disposable weapon he wanted him to be, everything would be fine; It was all for the Greater Good after all.

When the gargoyle that guarded the stairs to his office announced a visitor, he checked the Fidelius hidden mirror next to Fawkes' perch to see who it was, then waved his hand to trigger the door to open just as his Deputy reached it, no need to waste magic when he could just direct the school to do it for him after all, "Good Morning Minerva! How is Mr. Potter?"

"I'm sorry Albus," Minerva started remorsefully, "there was no Mr. Potter at that location."

'Bloody useless…' "Perhaps he'd just stepped out for the day. Did you wait to see if he would return? The Compass should have taken you directly to him."

"I searched the house Professor. The…" she checked her notes, "Dursleys, had been gone several days. There was a child present; a young girl in need of medical care."

"A young girl you say?" 'It can't be.' Albus thought, 'there's no way my spells should have failed.' "What became of her?"

"I took her to St. Mungo's. I last saw her resting comfortably in the children's ward there." Something must have crossed his face as her next question sounded somewhat more suspicious of him than usual, "Who is she Headmaster?"

'Deny everything,' "Hmm? No idea. Where is the compass? Perhaps I should go myself."

"Director Tonks called the Aurors in regarding the girl, and Auror Sharp was most interested in the compass when I mentioned using it while seeking a boy for you at the same location where I found the girl. He asked to borrow it to aid in their investigation."

'Of all the stupid…' "Very well. How go the visitations to the Muggleborns for the new school year?" 'worthless Mudbloods though they are.'

-RISEN-

It sat in the room with the one that could change like it and the one that brought it to this place, curious as to what they wanted.

They seemed to want it to do something with the things in front of it, making strange gestures and sounds, but it couldn't figure out what.

Two new people suddenly faded into the room, but what they looked like was completely concealed within their dark blueish-gray coverings.

They spoke for a time while it listened, though most of what they said made no sense to it, then one of the new ones moved to the changeable one while the other moved to it.

A feeling a pressure from all sides, like when it was brought to there, enveloped it, and again the world changed.

The new place was comfortingly enveloped in darkness, though not as much as it had been in before.

They took it and the changeable one through doorway after doorway, each room different and interesting to it, most wrapped in darkness, some very bright with light.

Then it met Santa.

-RISEN-

Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, sat at her desk. glancing through the Daily Prophet, while waiting for Auror Kilson to share the investigation results of his team regarding the house Professor McGonagall reported yesterday.

'Boy-Who-Lived to Return to Wizarding World to Attend Hogwarts' with quotes from Albus Dumbledore praising the young wizard graced the front page; nearly every article mentioned the young savior in some way. If what McGonagall, Tonks, and she suspected was true about the Metamorph the professor brought to St. Mungo's yesterday is true, not one of those articles comes close to being true; and Dumbledore has much to answer for.

"Ma'am?"

"Come in, Kilson. What did you find?" Amelia said as she adjusted her monocle. Unlike the muggle counterparts that nearly everyone suspected her of wearing, she didn't need the eye covering lens to see normally, but to see auras, spells, curses, hexes, and other things based on which settings she used by flicking the little switches in the grooves around the edge. It was quite useful, and only one of her many secrets.

"I have Sampson and Thomas searching for the muggles that live there, there were plenty of photographed of the three of them; including a young boy, though the child bears no resemblance to the late Potters. The woman was said to be Lily Potter's sister, correct? I don't see it, the woman looked nothing like Lily.

"There was evidence of wards having been placed upon the house, though they were too faint neither Pollux or Fornell could determine the type, origin, or age of them. We'll likely need to have an Unspeakable check the premises for better details on those.

"Within the house itself, we located a magical trunk with the Hogwarts crest and the initials L. J. E. buried in the attic, a letter addressed to Petunia Evans in a locked safe in the master bedroom, along with four pieces of magical jewelry, a Lady's ruby broach with the Potter Crest on it and a set of ruby earrings with a matching necklace, also baring the Potter Crest. I suspect they came out of the trunk in the attic. In the basement we found traces of magical activity; again too faint to read properly. The worst thing we uncovered, however, was the boot cupboard under the stairs.

"It was a prison, ma'am. Auror Loxley and I carefully removed the wall concealing the space. From the layers of paint on the plaster covering the space, it hadn't been opened in years, and within we found a ratty crib mattress, lots of old blood and traces of human excrement; thankfully no bones. There were marks on the inside of the door and on the walls; as if someone who had been held within had tried to claw their way out of the space.

"Professor McGonagall said she had her House-Elf… Cami… retrieve the girl out of that space."

"Wait… the girl was in there, but the space hadn't been opened in years?"

"Yes, ma'am… either the girl has some way to Apparate into and out of that space without leaving a magical resonance, or she shouldn't be alive."

"I want to know everything about those muggles and how that girl came to be with them. Where is the girl now?"

"Auror Timmons reported that Director Tonks took custody of the child and visited Gringott's early this morning. He said he left a sealed letter from a… Nornuk… in your box, but would not give me any further details. Director Tonks then took the girl to her home for the night, believing that her own daughter, another Metamorphmagus, might be able to help the girl."

"Very well. Have Director Tonks contact me as soon as she can. Thank you, Kilson, good work so far."

-RISEN-

She sat pondering what had happened in the last month since Croaker, who she'd first thought of as Santa, Mace and Shimmer, the two who kept themselves concealed and thought it funny to say they couldn't say who they where or what they did, and Nymphadora, the other changeable girl, had brought her into this room.

They had taught her many things, like that she wasn't an 'it' but a she, her, girl, lady, miss, I, me, you and other such things, but also only a part of you, we, us, them, they, and more. Some made sense to a degree, while others, such as you, were a bit confusing; how can you be both singular and plural? They taught her how to sleep, dress, eat, bathe, potty, read, write, and calculate, even if she wasn't very good at any of those things yet, she was getting better.

They called her Harriett a lot, and sometimes Potter, but she couldn't figure out why. Looking over at the other bed, she sat up quietly and felt like she was screaming as the very quiet words slipped through her lips, "Nym… ora?"

"Huh? What was that?" came the voice from the other girl.

She cringed, startled that she had actually made a sound and fearful of getting in trouble, yet desperate enough to know that she risked further punishment to ask, "Ha… ry… why?"

"It's what your parents named you… back when you were very little," the other girl looked at her, "It's good to hear your voice. You should speak more."

She shook her head, still fearful.

"Nymora… I kind of like that one, no one's ever called me that before. Please, say it again."

She shook her head again.

"You won't get in trouble, I promise."

She cocked her head to the side.

"I promise."

"Prom… ise?"

"Yes."

"Nym… ora."

"Good. Now we should get some sleep, we have another long day again tomorrow; and I want to hear you talk some more too."

She just nodded and laid back down. Even now, sleep was hard… the darkness was different, all encompassing, now she had to make the darkness and sometimes she found that hard to do.

-RISEN-

Andromeda fretted.

The two Unspeakables had taken the girl and her daughter this morning, saying they were six years behind schedule on a project and had need of them both; they would be returned to her care tomorrow.

There was really nothing she could do about it, even if she was Nymphadora's mother and had custody of the other girl… they were Unspeakables… even if she contacted the DMLE, she couldn't tell them who exactly had taken the girls or which department they were working with. She really felt that group needed more oversight, but somehow every vote in the Wizengamot to do so fails.

Maybe there's something to that 'Rotfang Conspiracy' Ted was telling me about reading in the Quibbler, it's just that Fudge is too cowardly and stupid to be the one behind something like that.

And now Amelia wants to talk; Andromeda sighed, she didn't know what she was going to tell the woman when they met at lunchtime today, she just hopped the Unspeakables would keep their word to return the girls in the morning.

The Law-Wizard-of-Record for House Potter informed her their retainer had lapsed back in 1982 and all records had been withdrawn by Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore on behalf of House Potter. Just one more thing to talk to Amelia about.

-RISEN-

Three hundred to one, Croaker had said, for every second outside of this room, five minutes would pass within; for every hour, twelve and a half days. Harry wasn't sure how she felt about that, but her teachers were certainly not wasting any of the time. She hadn't known it at first, but they were using crystals to put information directly into her head while she slept, and training her how to use that information while she was awake.

This morning, on the room's day/night schedule anyway, they transferred some of Nymora's memories into her to help with the Metamorph training. That felt weird to her. Some of the earlier memory transfers dealt with her being a girl and dealing with various issues that Witches kept secret from Wizards; and some of the tricks that Nymora figured out specific to Metamorphs. Now she could 'remember' what Nymora felt during her struggles to shift to specific other forms, such as the feeling of being a guy for the first time… and Harriett knew they were going to ask her to do the same thing. At least, unlike Nymora, Harry had the help of another Metamorph during her own training… hopefully that will make the weirdness of it easier to cope with.

-RISEN-

Albus apparated into the abnormally quiet, unusually normal, and completely _muggle_ neighborhood of Little Whinging, Surry, and was shocked to see the heavy Notice-Me-Not wards surrounding all the activity at Number 4 Privet Drive; Aurors Apparating in and out directly to the property with the busy-body neighbors completely unaware of what was happening.

He dropped his Disillusionment Charm as he approached the house, "What's going on here?"

"Oh! Chief Warlock, I didn't notice you there. We're still processing the house, hoping to find out where the boy who was reported missing yesterday is, but we should be done soon. Would you happen to have any information about the people living here?" Third-year Auror Cadet Sparrow asked politely.

Albus shook his head, concealing his anger well, "I'm afraid I can not help you, young Jaqueline. I was just coming to check on an old friend of mine when I saw all the hubbub here. I'll let you get back to work. Good day!" He walked away, seemingly calm while seething in hatred for his missing weapon.

-RISEN-

She didn't like being male. Sure the form had naturally denser muscles, but she could shift her female form to compensate for that without having that 'thing' flopping around while she was working out… it was entirely too easy to injure… and then it would harden. Nymora said she'd get used to it, but she didn't really like being male either. Unfortunately, she had to take and maintain the form for a solid week, even while she slept, in order to pass that portion of her training. She wasn't looking forward to that, though the Occlumency training Shimmer, one of the Unspeakables, was giving her was helping retain control… it was even helping Nymora with her balance issues.

In the last month she'd been questioning the name Harriett too, not really caring for it all that much… or even the shortened version Harry. Nymora had told her about the Harry Potter Adventure series of books, even recalling what she could remember of a few of the tales, which spurred her dislike of her own name. The two of them had been tossing options back and forth, but so far none of them had been right, even when they added Lillian to the mix for more options. She'd vehemently declined being called Lily.

Almost all of her smaller scars were gone now when she reverted to her base form, but enough of the larger ones remained that it was still unpleasant to view for most people, and those would likely never fade. She had grown to nearly four feet tall, her dark mahogany hair nearly reaching to her shoulders, though it was still patchy, and her deep emerald eyes shone brightly with power, practically glowing in the dark when she and Nymora talked instead of slept at 'night'. 'Uncle' Saul had said she would probably never be very big, but she didn't care; she could always use her abilities to compensate if she needed to, and she loved her eyes.

-RISEN-

Nymora thought back to all the previous times she'd been in the Time Dilation Chamber, all the times her mother knew about academically as training, though knew none of the specifics. She thought about the months of her life that, like now, she never wore clothing, so her teachers could watch and monitor her changes and control. Privacy was a luxury Metamorphs couldn't afford in training.

Harriett hadn't shown any shyness at being unclothed, like Nymora had at first, and that thought, combined with the scars the younger girl had had when the two had met, had Nymora rethinking her own relationship with her parents, especially her mother. She'd thought her mother harsh at times, trying to teach her about being a Black, even though she'd been cast out of that family and they were known for never reinstating someone in order to pull in the decedents of that person.

This girl was her cousin, of sorts, and would need that knowledge too, as well as knowledge of the Potter family history. She'd ask Uncle Saul about getting that information for the girl in the morning; and remind them to add some time for modesty training for the girl.

-RISEN-

They'd given her a copy of _Harry Potter and the Sea of Sorrows_ , the latest episode of the popular adventure series, and told her to take the form of Harry depicted in the pages and on the cover of the book. That was eight days ago, and they finally said she'd passed that portion of her training. Mace was a little disappointed when Lia, the name she'd finally chosen, immediately shifted back to the green haired girl she preferred to be. Which further supported Nymora's thought that Mace might have a crush on Lia, but Shimmer wouldn't help them confirm that.

Mace, who led most of their physical and combat training, admitted to being part of the Operations Corps of the department, while Shimmer, their philosophy and theoretical magic teacher, worked for the Research & Development side; Croaker, however, didn't work with either of them normally, but neither would say where he did work, other than for their department.

Saul tended to stay in his office most of the time, letting the two female Unspeakables handle most of the training. It had taken Lia and Nymora nearly nine months to figure out the two were women, but the intimate, personal knowledge they had of some of the subject matter left little doubt of the matter; though neither woman would ever lower their hood and reveal their real identity. However, when Saul did become personally involved, lots of changes to what they were currently learning occurred rather rapidly, new skills and challenges introduced, requirements tightened, and so forth.

Lia found she really liked the challenges, the fear she once had of being harshly punished for the slightest mistake nearly fading completely in the company of these four people. She was happy here.

-RISEN-


	5. The Letter

-RISEN-

The Letter

* * *

Saul observed Harriett learning how to dance with Nymphadora, or rather Lia and Nymora as the girls had taken to calling each other. So much had changed with that girl in the last twenty-nine hours, but it was time to head back out to the real world.

He picked up the two letters he'd held for her, her Hogwarts' Letter and one he'd found hidden in his desk yet didn't recall putting there. The Fidelius like charm on it, tied to a vary familiar magical signature, had him infuriated. He didn't know how Dumbledore had pulled that bit of magic off, but his department would be making this case a priority to unravel and prevent in the future. No one was allowed to have secrets from the Department of Mysteries.

Secrets could lead to problems for the nation, and the department was charged with protecting the realm. Saul really didn't care what Dumbledore thought he had the authority to do, he'd find out he was mortal just like any other wizard or witch out there right now.

The fact that this particular secret dealt with the beautiful young lady he was about to hand these letters to… he really couldn't fathom a plausible reason.

-RISEN-

Saul handed her two letters. The first was a packet of things from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry including a booklist, supply requirements, and a form letter asking that 'Harry Potter' reply no later than the 31st of July. The books were standard first-year materials, many of which she had already been using to improve her reading skills. Though she had studied calendars and time reading, she actually didn't know what day it was, yet when she asked all Mace or Shimmer would tell her is that, when they left this room, it would be June 30th, giving her a full month to decide what to do. School was a definite, more than likely Hogwarts, but… should Harry decline while Lia requested admittance separately? From what she'd learned with the Unspeakables, using the name Potter could cause issues, but what other name should she consider?

Then she looked at the other letter and it drew her full attention… it was from her mother.

-LJEP-HLP-

To my lovely daughter Harriett,

If you are reading this, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong, and your father and I are no longer able to take care of you. I'm deeply sorry for this and truly hope that you can find happiness in your life, even without us.

You mean the world to your father and me, we love you deeply.

Know that now that we're no longer there, we've made arrangements for your care, and I'll list your advisors and guardians below for you, yet some things must be told from a mother to her daughter.

So, how shall I begin… perhaps a bit of family history?

Your father and I met in Hogwarts, we were both sorted into Gryffindor while my best friend at the time Severus was sorted into Slytherin. Your father and Sev really didn't get along… probably due to his jealousy over me spending time with Sev and turning down his ridiculous marriage proposals every few months. He was cute and creative, I'll give him that, but he was a prat and a bit of a bully… thankfully he grew out of that. We graduated in the spring of 1978 and I 'finally' (which was your father's exclamation dear) agreed to marry him at Christmas that year. We married in St. Hedwig's on November 20th, 1979 in honor of my parents' own anniversary, but like you, since you are reading this, they never got the chance to see my wedding, as we will unfortunately not be at yours (at least in person). I still can't believe the prank your father pulled on Sirius at the wedding, though I'll let your Godfather tell you about that one. Your father must have been shooting silver bullets that night, as you were born shortly before midnight on July 31, 1980 at home in Potter Cottage, which was a surprise as you were nearly three weeks early and poked your head out only half an hour after saying it was time.

As I do not know when you will get to read this letter, though my prayers that it never happen have obviously failed, you should know that as you are the eldest grand child of Lord Charlus Fleamont-Potter and Lady Dorea Potter nee Black, and as your father Heir Apparent James Potter, Lord Potter's only child, is no longer living, you are next in line to inherit the Headship of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter and all that that entails. You will need to request an inheritance test from the goblins of Gringott's to acquire the Heir's Ring, and your guardian, hopefully your grandfather, will take care of the Wizengamot parchmentwork. Don't be afraid of the goblins, yes they are scary looking at first and have very surly tempers most of the time, but treat them as your friends and they will treat you the same, especially the Potter Account Manager Bloodsinger.

I want you to know, that as I write this, I'm scared.

Albus Dumbledore spoke with your father last week and neither of them would tell me about it, though both looked frightened.

I've nearly completed my Charms Mastery with Master Flitwick and I know the drawbacks of using the Fidelius Charm. Potter Cottage is well warded, but taking the defenses down to a level where that charm would work… there is only one person I can think of that would scare James enough to consider it. But why us? A second year Auror trainee and me, a Charms and Enchanting student? It doesn't make any sense. Sure we're in Albus' little group, but neither of us have ever even seen Him, just helped out here and there to protect those His minions have attacked. Sorry, I'm rambling, but I'll leave it so you know at least some of what has been going on here, and why I've written this letter. I just hope Peter was the right choice.

Anyhow, back to you, my darling girl.

Your first bout of accidental magic happened when you were only two weeks old. Your Godfather was tickling your feet and holding your pacifier, next thing he knew your pacifier was stuck in his mouth and he couldn't get it out. It took both your father and me to undo that sticking charm you used, and don't worry, I took plenty of pictures for you.

Though we didn't want to at first, we knew, living in Potter Cottage and interacting with the non-magical side of Godric's Hollow, we had to place bindings on your magic until you were old enough to learn how to control them. Your grandparents and Godparents know about them both, so they shouldn't be a problem. The one on your magic to prevent accidental outbursts, as you can probably understand from simply what I've already written, and should be removed somewhere between your eighth and tenth birthdays, so your core can expand and settle a bit before you start at Hogwarts.

The other binding is on your Metamorphmagus abilities. Your cousin, Nymphadora Tonks, started her training with the Unspeakables just after her fifth birthday (the year I graduated Hogwarts), and we've arranged for you to have the same training. Little known fact, all Metamorphmagi are born female, though since you can choose to be either sex, you have all the rights of a male. Probably has something to do with girls being born with all the eggs they will ever have, while males… never mind… as I don't know when you'll read this, and I'd prefer you not read about _that_ until your later teens… and definitely not _practice_ until at least after you graduate. I waited for marriage, but I know I was one of the few in my class that did. I won't be disappointed in you, I just want you to be safe.

You should also know of the three Betrothal Agreements your father and I set up for you. Don't be scared or think we've taken away your free will, we've done this for several reasons, so let me explain. I am what is called a Muggleborn, as neither of my parents had magic, and your father is a Pureblood, and while there's a whole lot of nonsense in the wizarding society when it comes to blood status, a few things do matter; even to me. Your father's family can trace its' magical roots back thousands of years, well before the founding of the Wizards Council (which eventually became the Wizengamot). This history is your legacy, you will have access all to the family magics, even more than I have access to, as well as the political power of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter at your disposal. Added to that, you can choose to activate one, or all, of the Betrothal Agreements to expand your influence even farther. Just like in the non-magical world, multiple marriages aren't common in wizarding society, but they aren't exactly rare either, and tend to be used for line continuation purposes (your guardian or advisors will explain this in great detail I'm sure). If you activate more than one betrothal, you might have difficulties in the non-magical world, but the gifts two of you have could aid in circumventing those issues.

First, we've set up an agreement with Theodore and Andromeda Tonks nee Black between you and Nymphadora. Metamorphmagi are rare so perhaps you could strengthen that ability within the bloodline, even if Andi was disowned from the family for marrying Ted, you both have Black blood flowing in your veins. Ted's a really great solicitor and Andi is already at the head of her ward in St. Mungo's, she a really dedicated healer. The Black family's offensive magics are a good balance to the Potter family's defensive. Your father and I want you to have a well-rounded education, so learn all you can; though if you ever have to fight, go with what works, don't try to be clever or use a different spell every cast, hesitation will get you, or those you are with, hurt. Nor should you hold back, an enemy that can get back up is still an enemy that needs to be put down again; don't kill unless you have to, but don't shy away from it either.

The second agreement is with Frank and Alice Longbottom between you and your Godbrother Neville of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom. The Potters and Longbottoms have long been allies and we all thought that this would benefit you both, though the decision is yours to make. The Longbottoms have a rich Viking history and a familial affinity for earth magics. Being Aurors also seems to run in that family, as Frank's parents, Harfang and Callidora Black, were Aurors as well, though Frank's step-mother Augusta went into teaching and has just joined the Wizarding Examinations Authority, so I'm sure you'll meet her someday. Your father and Frank are partners in the Auror training right now, while Alice is partnered with your Godfather Sirius' fiancé Amelia Bones (Sirius is training as a Hit Wizard instead of Auror, he hated the thought of all that extra paperwork, the lazy bum).

The final agreement is between you and Daphne Greengrass of the Ancient and Noble House of Greengrass. I won't sugarcoat this, we set this up with her grandfather, Lord Peneus Greengrass, to protect her from her step-father, Cyrus Temple-Greengrass. Heiress Creusa Greengrass will inherit the family magics and Lordship of House Greengrass which is bound to the BA Daphne has with you, while Cyrus will take control of the political power of the House if Lord Peneus dies before Daphne comes of age. Cyrus may attempt to block this, as he already attempted to make a BA with the Magical House of Malfoy for her, but he really has no legal way to block your BA (his was set up for daughter, not eldest, eldest daughter, or Daphne specifically, as yours is, which means little Astoria is stuck with the Malfoy Heir now, unless we can find a way to break that one for her). Creusa has her father's gift for enchanting and has her own Mastery in Charms and Enchantments from Master Flitwick, though Cyrus is forcing her to be a stay-at-home mother, isolating her as much as he can.

I keep saying the choice is yours, and this is what I mean. We've worked into each of the BAs a simple clause that will allow you to just go to Gringott's and tell the Potter Account Manager that you want to cancel the agreement and it's done, provided that the cancellation is done of your own free will (which the goblins will verify) and both parties agree to do so (if both parties don't agree, it can still be cancelled for cause but might incur penalties for one or both parties). All the clauses, terms, conditions, and possible penalties are spelled out in the agreements. In order to enact these exit clauses for you, Neville, and Daphne, you must be 'of age' in the wizarding world, which occurs on your seventeenth birthday, unless you are emancipated early by your guardian or by taking up the Head of House ring after your grandfather's passing or your fourteenth birthday (whichever is later). Since Nymphadora is six years older than you, we decided to allow her to break it on her own when she turns twenty (three months after your fourteenth birthday). Bloodsinger has the originals of all three BAs and our Wills and I encourage you to read them when you get a chance, they will aid you in your decisions.

Though your guardian should train you, you can sit in on the Wizengamot for practical experience at fifteen; and assume the Potter vote at sixteen if your grandfather allows you to sit in for him (I really hope he's still around to guide you though).

Speaking of guardians and advisors, this is probably a good point to get into them, huh? Right. What is a Guardian or an Advisor you ask? Well… a guardian is like a stand-in for your father and me since, to my disappointment, we can't be there for you anymore, while an advisor is sort of like a teacher, someone we trust to guide you into becoming the best person you can be but not dominating you into only doing it their way; at least we hope that they allow you the freedom of making your own choices and mistakes, we trust them, but people do have a tendency to change over time. I'll just list them out, then explain who they are and why these specific people were selected, shall I? All twelve of these people are your Advisors, but your Guardianship will go down the list in order:

Lord Charlus and/or Lady Dorea Potter nee Black – your father's parents.

Lord Frank and/or Lady Alice Longbottom nee Bowmaker – your main godmother and her husband.

Sirius Black and/or Amelia Black nee Bones (at least I hope that's true before you read this) – your Godfather and his betrothed/wife.

Jonathan Bones and/or Gwendolyn Bones nee Morgan – your second godmother and her husband.

Theodore and/or Andromeda Tonks nee Black – they, and their daughter Nymphadora, will be able to help you with your abilities.

Filius Flitwick or his daughter Fiona – My mentor and master and the woman that's as good as a sister to me (last on the list by their choice).

So, to explain all of this… your grandparents should be obvious, but you're probably wondering 'why two godmothers?'

Fiona would have been your godmother if it weren't for some strange goblin inheritance laws I can't make heads or tails of, something to do with religions, and since we couldn't decide between Alice or Gwen you have both. Had things gone differently with Sev, I'd have offered him to chance to become your Godfather, but he's not the same person he was when we were growing up in Cokeworth… I hope he gets over whatever it is and becomes the man I know he can be. I never met Filius' bondmate, as she never came out of Gringott's and I wasn't allowed to visit her home within, but I suspect something happened to her as Filius has been quite depressed lately, especially if anyone mentions Twio'lig.

We decided to put Frank and Alice second on the list after your father spent a week on the couch demanding you go to Sirius first, seems he finally came to understand that Alice can teach you things that Amelia wouldn't be able to and the protections on Longbottom Hall are nearly as strong as those around Pottermore Manor. Jonathan Bones' brother Harrold is the current Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Bones and his eldest son, Edgar after him, followed by David, Jonathan (sexist wizarding inheritance laws), and then Amelia. Amy knows a lot of things, that's true, but she hasn't really been studying the specifics you'll need to know when you ascend to the headship of the family.

Sirius is to James as Fiona is to me, brothers in all but blood (even if they are cousins). He's a really good man, but be careful around him, he loves playing 'pranks' on people and unless Remus is around to dampen his excesses can take things too far. Who's Remus? A kind man with a heart three times too large for his own good. Remus would be on this list as your second Godfather if not for his 'furry little problem' which the bigots in the Ministry keep regulating against. Oppression breeds desperation which in turn causes the situations they are regulating against causing more oppression… people need help not more laws preventing them from getting help… perhaps one day you will be able to help them as your grandfather is currently trying to do.

Jonathan was our Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor during fifth year and Gwen was pregnant with little Elaina, your Godsister. Gwen helped me through a rather delicate time in my life, and turned me into a Hollyhead Harpies fan in the process. I suspect, though neither of them will admit to it, that Jonathan knocked some sense into your father that year too. Everything changed that year, even my sister Petunia (may you never have the misfortune of meeting her or her husband Vernon Dursley, the less said about _them_ the better).

It's funny. Every time I try to explain who one person is, another pops up. Just goes to show how complicated life really is.

Your father will of course want you to know about the Marauders… Prongs (James Potter), Padfoot (Sirius Black), Wormtail (Peter Pettigrew), Moony (Remus Lupin), and Dove (me, well after Hogwarts anyway). I don't know about Peter, but James and I forced Sirius to register as an Animagus when the two of us did, but with James being an Auror trainee, Sirius in Hit Wizard training, and the job offer I have waiting for me once I finish my Mastery, our forms were placed on the restricted access list within the Department of Mysteries, rather than the public list. Since you are reading this, I can tell you that your father was a Stag and I'm a Liger (a white lion/tiger mix), though why they call me 'Dove' I still haven't figured out, not that I mind. We were all in the same year in Gryffindor (Alice was in our year too, while Frank and Amy were two years ahead of us, but the three of them were in Hufflepuff). The number of times I heard those boys 'solemnly swear' that they were 'up to no good' would boggle your mind, I'm sure. They were all about playing pranks and having fun, but Moony (and me to some extent) kept them grounded enough to do well in school, even Peter though he wasn't as good as the rest of us.

That, I suppose, brings us back to Albus and the Fidelius Charm he cast on Potter Cottage last night.

Sirius being the Secret Keeper, the only person that can share the knowledge of where we are hidden, was 'too obvious' for him, so he convinced James to have Peter hold that burden while he, Sirius, ran around as a decoy. I understand the tactical side of it, but Sirius needs to learn how to be serious about things like this… not everything should be considered a joke.

We updated our Wills with Bloodsinger this morning with all of this information as well, but I'm sure your grandfather (or guardian) will have taken care of everything by now. It wouldn't hurt to check though when you pick up your Heir's Ring.

You still have a ton of questions, I know, as I still have a ton of things I want to tell you, but I have no idea how to put them on parchment. You're only a year old and have such potential ahead of you.

Your father and I love you.

With deepest regrets for no longer being there for you… we'll be waiting for you on the other side.

Your Mother,

Lily Jasmine Potter nee Evans

12 August 1981

-LJEP-HLP-

Lia stared at the letter for a while, not sure what to think about it.

"What is it, Lia?"

"It's… from my mother. Did you know we're betrothed, Nymora?"

"What? No… Mum would have told me!" so shocked her normally pink hair turned bright blue.

Lia didn't have that issue. Unlike her mercurial cousin, her own changes took time, even minor ones tended to take a few seconds and a lot of attention to perform. "Here… read it for yourself," the younger Metamorph said, handing the letter to the older one.

Nymora muttered as she read, "She's right about the magical heritage, Black and Potter would complement each other… cousin Neville and Daphne Greengrass as well? Wait, this says you should have been raised with your grandparents. Lord Charlus died about five years ago, Dragon Pox, but Dorea only passed last Christmas… you were with the… if all of this in in their Wills why were you with the Dursleys? It says you shouldn't ever even meet them, let alone live with them… and cousin Sirius wasn't your parents' Secret Keeper, _Pettigrew_ was? Damn, Madam Bones needs to see this."

"Madam Bones?" Lia asked, wondering if she was related to one of the Boneses mentioned in the letter.

"Amelia Bones… she took over as Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in '89 when Old Dawkins retired… Joe Dawkins took over from Barty Crouch early in '82 when his son was… found out to be a Death Eater. Damn… how did no one think to check into this stuff?"

"How did no one know about me, or our betrothal, or any of the rest of that stuff? How do you know all that about the DMLE?"

"I plan to be an Auror after Hogwarts. Gotta know who you'll be working for, ya know? Mum's been tutoring me in Potions so I can pass my NEWT, since Snape doesn't teach for shit and a Potions NEWT is required. She'll probably start in on you as soon as we get back from Diagon Alley."

"We're leaving here tomorrow right?" Lia asked trying to stave off another rant about Snape from her… fiancé. She still wasn't sure what she felt about that piece of information. She really liked Nymora, but really didn't know much about love yet… she guessed they would just have to wait and see if it all worked out.

"Yep. Uncle Saul said sometime after breakfast."

"Right. So we need to see Bloodsinger at Gringott's, or whoever took over the Potter Account after him, and Madam Bones. Gather supplies and books for Hogwarts, or choose to go somewhere else and get supplies for there instead; then find out who screwed my life over so badly."

"Sounds about right. Do you remember the form you had when we first came in here?"

"Yes… that seems so long ago now. Hard to think it's only been a year. Why?"

"Madam Bones will probably want to see it."

Lia looked down and away, thinking somewhat sadly about what she had looked like in comparison to how she looked now, "If it's necessary, I guess… but I'd rather not."

Nymora knew exactly what was on the younger girl's mind at that moment and thought to interject a bit of levity to their discussion, "Think you're ready to meet the world as Lia Potter?"

"No… but it's time so I'll do it anyway… you may have to hold my hand though," Lia said with a slight smile and a laugh.

"I think I can manage to do that," Nymora said grinning back.

-RISEN-


	6. Gringott's Pt2 - Wills and Gifts

-RISEN-

Gringott's Part 2 - Wills and Gifts

* * *

It was a little after two in the afternoon when the two girls stepped out of the floo into the Leaky Cauldron; Andromeda was waiting to meet them there. She didn't recognize the slim girl with the green hair at all, though suspected she was Harriett Potter since the second girl through the floo was her own daughter, Nymphadora.

"Hello you two. How was your little vacation with Uncle Saul?"

Nymphadora smiled brightly, "It was brilliant Mum. Lia and I learned so much."

"Lia?" Andromeda asked, questioning the name rather than seeking confirmation as eavesdroppers would be assuming.

The green hair girl nodded, shying somewhat to hide behind Nymphadora.

"Well come along then, I suppose we should stop by Madam Malkin's to get your school clothes all sorted, we're lucky she's open on Sundays. We'll get the rest later this week."

Both girls followed her out of the pub, into the little courtyard that led to Diagon Alley. Lia seemed much calmer with fewer people around, her Healer's mind going to work, she'd have to keep an eye on her for the things Saul's note mentioned: panic attacks, Anthropophobia or Ochlophobia, triggering possibly Algophobia or Elective Mutism. Tapping the wall to activate the passage, she watched Lia lean forward in amazement, though the girl said nothing. Agoraphobia was out then, open spaces didn't appear to scare the girl, though very few people could be seen from the courtyard.

"Come along. We need to be home by five, we have guests coming to supper this evening."

"Uh… mum. Lia needs to visit Gringotts, and she has something for Madam Bones."

"Oh? Why's that dear?"

Lia looked around, then pulled her mother's letter out and handed it to her. The sudden closing of the portal startled the girl and Lia shrank back behind Nymphadora in fear. 'Kinetophobia?' She'd have to watch for more of that to be sure. Lia acted almost like a scared rabbit, cowering behind her daughter like the older girl was a safe haven. "I'll read this while Malle gets you both sorted." She reopened the passageway and the three of them stepped through.

Lia's anxiety grew as more and more people pressed in about them. Even with her and Nymphadora blocking most from getting too near the girl, her Ochlophobia was definitely showing which quick, shallow breathing and agitation, her hair fading from black to dark green slowly. "We're almost there, Lia, just a little further."

The moment they entered Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, Lia bolted for a semi-shadowed corner in the back, sitting with her knees raised and her hands hiding her face.

"Dromeda?" Malle Malkin enquired looking at Lia.

"Just… let her be for a few minutes. She's starting Hogwarts this year and has a thing with crowds." She replied, watching the young witch fight to control her breathing. 'Seems like Saul has already given her a few techniques to help with the stress, I'll just have to see if I can do something more for her at home,' she thought sadly. "Why don't you start with Nymphadora… she's got her NEWTs this year."

"That's right! Rebecca does too. You'd best do your best dear, Rebecca mentioned you wanted to be an Auror, can't be a slouch if you want to join their ranks."

"I plan to, but I'll probably be helping little Lia quite a bit. She does okay in small groups with people she knows, but today seems to be a bit overwhelming for her. Becky still going to be joining you here?"

"That's the plan; but I still want her to do well on her tests."

Twenty minutes later Lia had calmed enough to come out of the corner and let Malle measure her, Nymphadora had gone to sit with the younger Metamorph while Andromeda wondered the shop picking out various things to get the young girl; she really needed everything, not just the uniforms. Once she'd collected everything from underthings, to a dark green formal dress, and a heavy winter cloak, she pulled out the letter from Lia's mother, 'Seems like Nymphadora was right that Madam Bones would want to read this. There's a lot of things in here that shed light on that night that no one's mentioned before… and it seems either Amelia or myself will be the girl's custodian after all.'

It was nearing three thirty when they left Madam Malkin's to head for Gringott's, and though the crowds had thinned a bit, Lia still had some problems by the time they reached the tall white building with the crooked Doric pillars out front. If the goblins thought her odd for sitting in a darkened corner for a few minutes while Andromeda waited in line, none of them mentioned it.

"What do you want witch?"

"We would like to speak with the Potter Account Manager please, I believe his name is Bloodsinger; unless he's been replaced."

"Wait there," the goblin said, pointing to a bench along the wall, "you will be escorted to him shortly."

As she sat, Nymphadora coaxed Lia into joining them on the bench, until Griphook, once again, arrived to escort them through the goblin warren to the Potter Account Manager's office.

-RISEN-

Lia sat before the massive stone desk, in the brightly lit, but spartan office of the Potter Account Manager next to Nymora with her mother standing behind her. A new goblin with a massive scar down the right side of his face and most of his left ear missing entered the office from the far side, spat out a string of strange sounds that sent Griphook scurrying away, then sat and addressed the three witches.

"Greetings. I am Crushbone, Master of Accounts and Manager of the Potter Assets within Gringotts. Why am I speaking to you?"

His stern tone and terse words scared her a little, but this was something she needed to do. Plucking up her strained courage, she replied with the merest whisper, "Lia."

Andromeda took over for her, "Greetings, Master Crushbone. This is Lia Potter, or Harriett rather. We have a letter here from Croaker of the Unspeakables, one from her mother and the inheritance test results from two days ago for you to examine and confirm if you will. We will also need to verify the Potter Accounts and attend to the Potter Wills; if those are available." Lia silently laying the three letters on the desk and gently pushing them towards the fearsome goblin.

Somewhat cannily the goblin leaned back and said, "I heard a rumor the Potter Heir showed up two days ago; but the rumors do not match the person before me. Who did you meet with?"

"Nornuk, Crushbone." Andromeda supplied, "Griphook escorted us to him."

Crushbone scowled at her answer, but then focused on Lia again, "and the rumors of your appearance?"

"My cousin, and betrothed, is a Metamorphmagus, Master Crushbone, as am I," Nymora stated calmly. "She could show you what she looked like then… but I'd rather not ask her to… she doesn't like how she looked any more than we do. Do you have some way to swiftly confirm her identity to you?"

Pulling out a strip of glittering parchment and an odd black quill covered in runes, Crushbone laid them before Lia, "Simply write your name."

Curious, but determined, the green haired girl picked up the quill and wrote 'Lia Potter' in quick blocky letters, not having mastered cursive or calligraphy with a quill yet, hissing slightly at the sudden sting in her left hand. When she finished, the letters flashed silver once, then gold twice, before settling into a pale solid gold.

"There is something wrong with your magical signature, but you are who you claim to be."

"Wrong?" Andromeda asked.

"The test examines the magical signature, core, and integrity of the one writing on the parchment. The flashes you saw indicate that her magical signature does not match her core, though her core is intact and unfettered, and she was telling the truth magically, which allowed for the altered version of her name. We'll have to run a much more in-depth analysis of her signature to determine the cause of the alteration and what effect it may have upon her."

"Shouldn't the inheritance test have shown something?" the Mediwitch asked.

"Depending on what it effects… if anything… perhaps not."

"What do you want to do Lia?" Nymora asked.

"Test," Lia whispered very quietly.

Master Crushbone led Lia, Nymora, and Andromeda from his office deep into the bowels of Gringott's to a brightly lit ritual chamber, directed Lia to lay in the center in naught but her skin while the others waited in an adjoining room, then asked that Lia also revert to her base form. It took her nearly ten minutes to finish the shift that left her looking like a burned and half-melted house-elf with scars still liberally covering her body, she was barely over three and a half feet tall, instead of the four foot she had appeared when she entered the bank, her green eyes glowing brightly beneath tufts of dark reddish black hair; Nymora and Andromeda found her hard to look at without tears threatening to spill over, even if she did look much better than she had a few days earlier.

Two hours later, Master Crushbone led the three witches back into his office.

As he sat at his desk he contemplated the youngest witch before him. She'd shifted slowly to her base form for the ritual, which had annoyed the three Shamen who had to wait for her to get ready, but seeing the girl struggle to shift back, nearly half an hour after the ritual was completed, was almost painful. Goblins don't fear pain, they embrace conflict, and thrive on competition, which is why most people see them as war-like. True they are a warrior culture at the very basic levels, but conflict begets profits, and competition brings innovation, something most wizards know nothing about and some to actively fear. That those terrified few were many of the same ones that controlled wizard society was a pity, and will likely lead to yet another 'Goblin Rebellion' in the future; perhaps even one the Goblins themselves will start. The Potters however were not among that number, so perhaps this girl, with the right help, could bring about some very much needed change.

Once more addressing Lia, "I have the results the ritual, the ledgers of the Potter Accounts, and Dowager Lady Dorea Potter's Will, as Lord Charlus Fleamont-Potter preceded her in death, she was the last steward of the Estate of which you are entitled, and the relevant sections of the late Lord Arcturus Black's Will."

"Dorea's? Why not James and Lily's?" Andromeda asked.

"Heir Potter and his wife preceded Lord Potter in death. The Will of Lord Charlus Fleamont-Potter, being the Head of House Potter, superseded the Will of Heir Potter. You should not that the Will of Heir Potter was ordered to be sealed by Chief Warlock Dumbledore of the Wizard's Wizengamot on November 8th, 1981. We chose not to inform him that the Will of Heir Potter had already been released to Lord Potter on November 2nd, 1981 as per standard procedures of Gringotts when an account holder dies; the first being a Sunday that year and most of you silly wizards take the day off. Lord Potter's Will decreed that Dowager Lady Dorea Potter should assume control over all Potter assets until such time as his granddaughter, Harriett Lillian Potter… the young Lady here… comes of age to assume Lordship over the House of Potter.

"The public reading of Lord Black's Will is tomorrow morning at 10:00, and although you are not named specifically in the Will, you may attend if you would like to. As you can read here, in the standard legalese from page twelve of the Will Enforcement clauses, Lord Black was only holding the Potter Estates for young Lady Potter here." Master Crushbone said laying the first of several documents in front of Lia.

"We can go over the particulars of Dowager Lady Potter's Will if you would like, but she only made two small bequeathments: One for ₲50,000 to the Late Lord Black to stand Steward of the Potter Estates; the second to Cassiopeia Black, her sister, for ₲20,000 for Lady Potter's 'House' education." The Goblin continued, "The Dowager Lady Potter also updated the list of potential guardians for her granddaughter as follows: Theodore and/or Andromeda Tonks nee Black, Cassiopeia Black, Amelia Bones, Filius Flitwick."

Andromeda was visibly happy about that, as it meant that Lia would be coming home with them, though also saddened when she thought of all the others Lily had written about in her letter being dead, or as good as anyway. "Thank you Master Crushbone for letting us know the Will of House Potter regarding Lady Lia, but could you let us know the results of the ritual please?"

Master Crushbone scowled for a moment, then laid another document in front of Lia, "You must sign this."

"What is that Master Crushbone?" Andromeda asked.

"By the Treaties of 1241 and 1474, the former grouping Goblins, Dwarves, Gnomes, Elves, and Leprechauns into a single category, and the later forming both Gringott's Wizarding Bank and the basis of this contract, any person possessing the trait of Ghostwalking, or Willful Intangibility, must be bound by contract to the bank for the duration of that person's life. Unlike the Leprechauns, the Goblins of Gringott's have chosen to make this contract one of employment rather than simple slavery, though you are only the second recorded case of the trait."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Madam Tonks. Gringott's can not allow people to exist that can simply walk through the walls of our stronghold without proper assurances to both the Nation and our clients. The only way Lady Potter walks out of this room alive, is if she signs this contract."

Lia laid her hand on Andromeda's wrist to stop her next outburst, then asked quietly, "What would I have to do for Gringott's?"

"As I stated, this is an employment contract… though a life term one… we of Gringott's would send you out with others on various missions utilizing your skills, while teaching you useful knowledge. You would not get a base salary, though with the Potter Estates you have no need of such anyway, but you would get commissions and bonuses for each assignment completed. Nothing too onerous for you I hope, we know you are young yet and are just beginning your education. You should know though, another part of the contract is a Blood Oath to never use that ability for profit without Gringott's sanction. You can use it for other things, though some might frown on such actions, but that's between you and them."

Lia pulled the contract to her and quickly read it over, asking Nymora to clarify a few words here or there. It was rather simple, just don't use the skill to steal or bad things will happen, and Gringott's will charge clients for the use of her abilities in conjunction with their curse- or ward-breaking teams for which she would get two percent of the value of the loot plus a flat rate fee for whichever team she's working with for that job. At least there was a provision for her choice about which jobs to undertake. Advanced training provided, though her electives for school were preselected for her. Figuring that she would at least have work waiting for her after school, making life a little easier, she signed the document with the Blood Quill provided and pushed the contract back to Master Crushbone.

"Thank you, Lady Potter," Master Crushbone stated quietly, "Your skills will be most appreciated amongst the teams. Now, for the results of the ritual." He pulled out another sheaf of parchment, "The shamen were concerned about your core, the shape is wrong. They described it as three spheres of varying size, somewhat melted into one another, there are bindings present as well, but not on the core itself, skewing and twisting the form further. The shamen do not know how that will affect your magic and will likely want to examine you again in the future to see how your core develops through your magical maturities.

"They did note that there were five other magical signatures present within your core, four of these we linked to existing life stones here at Gringott's: James Potter, Lily Potter nee Evans, Albus Dumbledore, and Tom Riddle; We do not know who the fifth signature belongs to. We alleviated the child's core block your father placed on you to limit your accidental magic outbursts, and the Metamorph block placed on you by your mother as well. Dumbledore placed a great many spells upon you, core bindings, power blockages, acuity limiters, mail redirectors, and a few other spells they are still working out but appear to be aimed at muggles primarily. We've removed all of those.

"Your mother also created some form of soul ward to defend your core, the shamen are still examining this spell, though it appears to be holding the remnants of a dark spell cast by Tom Riddle at bay. The last spell signature is also affecting Tom Riddle's spell, though is of an unknown type of magic. The shamen want to remove Tom Riddle's curse, but are unsure how it will affect your mother's work or the unknown magic. They did note that the three spells are not inhibiting your magic in any way."

Nymora scratched her ear, "All of that was present in Lia's core, but not on Lia's core? What's that mean?"

Master Crushbone sighed, "It means all of that was there, which is likely the cause of the strange shape of her core, but it was no longer blocking or encompassing her magic. Almost like something had pulled Lady Potter's core out from the middle of the mess and just left the mess sitting off to the side. The shamen are very curious as to how that happened."

"Anything else?" Andromeda asked.

"In addition to the Ghostwalking and Metamorphmagus abilities, the ritual detected Parselmagic and Parseltongue as well as an innate Occlumency barrier; but the three remaining spells could be masking other abilities; Your skills will still need to be developed however. We of Gringott's look forward to working with you, Lady Potter."

"Why would Mr. Dumbledore cast all those spells on me?" Lia asked quietly, "What does he want with me?"

"We do not know," Master Crushbone stated simply. "Here is a full accounting of all accounts currently within your purview, as of today, Sunday, June 30, 1991 the combined Potter Accounts total ₲5,912,998,759 §7 Ղ18 plus property and investments with an annual revenue increase of ₲7,381 §16 Ղ3 after taxes, fees, and maintenance costs. With the new funds available, you could easily see that annual revenue increase raised by a significant amount. The current breakdown of your funds by House, stands as follows: Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, including your Trust Vault and vaults for your potential siblings, ₲1,416,521 §5 Ղ17; Great, Noble, and Most Ancient House of Slytherin, ₲4,066,534,582 §9 Ղ13; Great, Noble, and Most Ancient House of Hufflepuff, ₲1,843,011,846 §15 Ղ10; Most Ancient House of Monroe, ₲15,297 §9 Ղ9; Most Ancient House of Peverell, ₲516,654 §21 Ղ7; Elder House of Gaunt, ₲23 §4 Ղ12; Magical House of Evans, ₲4,981 §6 Ղ24; Magical House of Fleamont, ₲173,524 §13 Ղ8. You also control ninety-two gift vaults through either direct gifting or bequeathments totaling ₲682,968 §14 Ղ5 and assorted items and documents.

"Even though Lord Arcturus Black only died this Friday passed at 10:24PM, Lord Sirius Black's declaration of Harriett Potter as his heir has been on file for over a decade. As Heiress Designate of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, et al., as named by Lord Sirius Orion Black, III, you more than likely have a Trust Account and Stipend available to you; Master Foultooth currently handles the House Black accounts and could tell you more if you are interested. The new Lord Black's current residence precludes him altering his Will, so at present, you, Lia, are Acting Head of the House of Black if you choose to take up that mantle as well. Again, Master Foultooth can elaborate on what you can and cannot do as Acting Head of that House.

"The Elder House of McGonagall and Venerable House of Bulstrode may as well, though it is unlikely beyond tertiary level heirs; Masters Jaggedheart and Goreblade can assist you with those.

"As for being Tertiary Heiress of the Great, Noble, and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor, I have no information, and until a new Lord ascends to Head the line, there is currently not an Account Manager handling the estate. King Ragnok could be handling it personally, but there are no records of that being the case.

"We've also noted activity within your account, ordered by Mr. Dumbledore but supposedly authorized by you, Lady Potter, that appears suspicious. Would you like for Gringott's to perform a full audit of your accounts?"

Besides being very large numbers, they meant very little to Lia, but she quickly nodded agreement for Gringott's to investigate her holdings. As the meeting wound to a close, the goblin presented Lia with the Heir's Rings for each of her houses, set up an appointment to meet with Master Foultooth later in the week, and inquired about the legalities behind using the names of her houses instead of Potter. While Gringott's had no issue with it, Master Crushbone suggested she pursue the issue with the DMLE.

-RISEN-

Andromeda pulled Lia to the side just as they were exiting Gringott's, "What was that question about family names about, Lia?"

"Dumbledore is in charge of Hogwarts. He's expecting a Potter to show up in September. If a Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Peverell, Fleamont, or Evans show up, it will draw a lot of attention. That leaves Gaunt, Monroe, and maybe Black. What do you know of those houses?"

"Well, I know the most about the House of Black, having grown up in it. Your family has other ties to the House of Black as well, so if you are going for anonymity, I wouldn't choose that one. I don't really know anything about Gaunt, but the House of Monroe was ended during the war. If you wanted to, you could portray yourself as a Muggleborn of a Squib offshoot of the line, miraculously resurrecting a dead house. The only problem would be the racial background of the house. I've noticed you tend to Caucasian with Green eyes for your shifts, while the line of Monroe tended to be in the mid to light Mocha shades, so a light golden brown would work, but with Blue eyes. Would you be okay with that?"

"How dark?"

"Not very. They were from Israel at some point, but the line had been mainly in England for a good while before the end. Blond hair would look odd for the line, but auburn or black hair would be common; your natural mahogany would be perfect," Andromeda replied.

"You might consider keeping your hair black, since it tends to shade that way when you get scared," Nymora added, "at least until you can face the crowds at school without panicking."

"That coloring would certainly be unexpected to anyone seeking Harry Potter. Of course, that means you'll need to learn Hebrew and Aramaic. I'll ask Uncle Saul if he has any Language Stones available for those."

Lia shrugged and nodded, "Lillian Monroe… I like it. Where to next?"

" **Ollivander's** to get you a wand."

-RISEN-


	7. Diagon Alley

-RISEN-

Diagon Alley

* * *

Lia wasn't sure what to make of Mr. Ollivander. It had taken then nearly half an hour to try the third wand since the second one, an eleven-inch Holly wand with a Phoenix core, burst into flame upon touching her fingers. She did like the nine and a half-inch Larch and Willow wand his 'grandfather' had made that evidently 'chose' her, though he did not know what the core was made from and kept calling it 'curious' and saying it was telling him different things. The pale, almost white, Willow wood spiraling together with the golden and red veined Larch wood was very pretty to her eyes; as was the dragon skin wand holster strapped to her left wrist. Though she had learned to write with her right hand while she was with the Unspeakables, the wand just felt better in her left for some reason; which meant she would need to pick up the special 'southpaw' editions of her school books.

Focusing on her wand, and Nymora's guiding hand, allowed Lia to tune out much of the surrounding crowds as the trio moved from shop to shop collecting various things to fill the five compartment, self-shrinking, trunk with very strong security features that Andromeda purchased for her from **Pakse's Packing and Storage Company** , along with a dragon skin knapsack with featherlight and undetectable expansion charms to make getting around school a bit easier. Lia picked up the required pewter cauldron and scales, and basic potions ingredients, but also picked up many additional tools that were available at **Slug and Jiggers Apothecary** and **Potage's Cauldron Shop** as well. They were just about ready to head back to the Tonks' residence, after a quick stop at **Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment** for a collapsible brass telescope, though Andromeda promised to get a muggle one her husband recommended for Lia to use for Astronomy class instead, with just **Flourish and Blott's** left on the shopping tour, when Nymora asked if Lia would like a pet cat or owl.

This proved to be a mistake, as it required Lia to broaden her awareness and the sudden increase in the number of people she perceived around her in the bookstore sent her into another panic attack. Lia quickly found her way to a darkened corner of the second floor of the bookstore, with only one young, red-haired girl wandering the isles nearby and Andromeda sitting quietly beside her while Nymora collected all the books the both of them needed for the coming school year.

"Want to talk about it?"

Lia shook her head, still trying to get her racing heart under control.

"Want me to do anything?"

The golden skinned Metamorph shook her head again.

"I'm going to look around up here to see if there is anything interesting to read. Will you be alright here?"

A silent nod was her only reply.

Andromeda stood up and started browsing the shelves, keeping a close eye on the youth in the corner, though neither of them had paid any attention to the other girl present.

"Hello," the red head said simply as she neared Lia.

Lia waved shyly, her fear holding her silent.

"Are you starting Hogwarts this year too?"

Turquoise shaded eyes looked up at the blue gaze of the girl speaking, then Lia nodded.

"Are you okay?"

Lia shook her head after trying to say her name but not being able to make a sound, then she waved her hand to get Andromeda's attention.

Concern laced the guardian's voice as she asked, "Lia, are you all right?"

Lia nodded, then waved to Susan.

"Oh!" Andromeda approached, "Hello dear, I'm Andromeda Tonks, and the young lady next to you is Lia Monroe, my ward; I'm sure her tongue will become unglued soon, she just has some issues with crowds. And who might you be?"

"Susan Bones, ma'am."

"Bones? Any relation to Amelia Bones of the DMLE?"

"She's my aunt," Susan said with a slight scowl, "Why do you ask?"

"I need to speak with her but doing so in private would probably be best for now. Is she accompanying you today?"

Susan shook her head, "Unfortunately she had to work, some big case came in a couple days ago that required her attention. I'm here with Hannah and Mrs. Abbott."

"Ah! I'm afraid I may have had something to do with that." She then turned to Lia, "We're just about done here, Lia, they don't have everything we need, but I know some other places to look for those. Was there anything you wanted to get?"

Lia looked from Susan to Andromeda and nodded, "Runes?"

"Books on Runes? Okay, wait here. I'll be right back."

Susan sat down beside Lia, "Do you know what house you'll be in when we get to Hogwarts?"

Lia shook her head.

"Yeah, I don't really know either. Probably Hufflepuff since I like helping people so much. My aunt was a Hufflepuff like my Dad, but my mum was a Gryffindor. You like books?"

Lia nodded.

"Hmm… Ravenclaw maybe?"

Lia shrugged.

"I can tell you would have problems in Slytherin, you have to be confident and assertive in that house. Gryffindor would probably be bad for you too; though they would at least help if something happened. Slytherins tend to be very self-centered."

"'Puff?"

"You want to be in Hufflepuff? You'd certainly be welcome there, though from what my aunt's said, they tend to group up a lot. If you have issues with crowds, it might not be the best fit, or it could be the best place to help you get over those issues. Hey! Maybe we'll be roommates."

Lia nodded a bit uncertainly, maybe it would be okay if the girl calmed down a bit.

The golden skinned girl was very thankful when Andromeda collected her from the bubbly personality of Susan a few minutes later, especially as she could somewhat hide behind the stack of twenty books that had been purchased for her. Along with all the basic schoolbooks for first year, she also had four 'Southpaw' editions of some so she could learn both ways of spellcasting, she had: _The_ _Hogwarts Student Handbook (ed. 1987)_ by Paul M. Sinyk, _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_ by Miranda Goshawk, _A History of Magic_ by Bathilda Bagshot, _Magical Theory_ by Adalbert Waffling, _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch, _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ by Phyllida Spore, _Ministry Sanctioned Potions_ by Dorothea Greengrass, _Magical Drafts and Potions_ by Arsenius Jigger, _Growing Up Witch_ by Vance McGill, _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander, _Star Gazing_ by Sel Ector and _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ by Quentin Trimble; she also had _A Practical Guide to the Runes: Their Uses in Divination and Magick_ by Lisa Peschel, _Futhark, a Handbook of Rune Magic_ by Stephen Flowers, _An Introduction to English Runes_ by R. I. Page, and _Theory of Numerology: an Introduction to Arithmancy_ by Bridget Wenlock, and she was quite excited to start reading them.

-RISEN-

As much as she searched, as much as she demanded others to locate the information she sought, there was _nothing_ to find. Amelia had her department's 'office flunkies,' mostly rookies, interns and squibs, investigating why Harry Potter had been placed at the Dursley Residence and tracking down all of the other information presented to her by Lily's Letter, as she had begun to think of it, and was supremely disappointed in the utter lack of parchmentwork associated with the cases. There was no evidence that Sirius Black had done anything that had resulted in him being incarcerated in Azkaban for the last decade, nothing to authorize placing the Potter Heir with the adopted sister of _her_ mother, who was also adopted; neither Lily, nor Petunia, were born as Evanses. That will be a shock to some people for certain. Even her searches into the Ralstons were coming up empty however, and the Dursleys must have someone hiding them magically.

She was becoming most perturbed with the situation.

-RISEN-

As much as he searched, as much as he demanded others to locate the information he sought, there was _nothing_ to find. Albus had his flunkies, Snape and Prewett mostly, investigating where Harry Potter had disappeared to. The tracking spells yielding no information, the Ministry had nothing to offer him, and he was supremely disappointed in the utter lack of details in the Auror parchmentwork associated with the child. Even Fawkes was unable to help him for some reason. The Greater Good demanded the Potter child be found at once, everything depended on it, the loss of the blood-tracker compass was rather irksome.

He was becoming most perturbed with the situation.

-RISEN-

In a hidden room deep in the bowels of the Ministry's secrecy shrouded department, five people sat around a small conference table where normally there would only be three. The three that normally sat there, the Unspeakable Triumvirate, which consisted of two men and one woman, were joined by two other women who had just completed an assignment for the Specials Division; which handles public relations, training, and politics, among other things. Though most didn't know what position he held, Saul Croaker, Head of the Specials Division, also called by his codename of Kermit by some within the department, was known to most of the Wizarding World as the Voice of the Department of Mysteries for his work as a 'known' Unspeakable and PR work within the media. The other two of the Triumvirate, Meléti of Research and Lady Kamagiri of Operations, never removed their concealing cloaks when anyone but the other two members of the Triumvirate were present. Joining the three, were Mace of Operations and Shimmer of the Research Division.

"Did you enjoy your little vacation Kermit?" Kamagiri asked, annoyed at the delay Croaker's little jaunt into the Room of Time had caused in a couple of her operations.

"Indeed, K. The girl is most interesting."

"What's so interesting about this Metamorph, Croaker?" Meléti slipped in before Kamagiri could fire off another annoyed comment.

"Lia Monroe… who I think we should call Shift from now on… is a slow morph. Nothing really special about that, but it does limit her usefulness to Operations compared to the Tonks girl; Nymora as she's taken to being called."

"Chameleon… or Chamel. We've already started her training for Operations," the Head of that Division put in.

Hardly acknowledging the interruption, Saul continued, "Shift could be useful in Research."

"How so?" Meléti asked.

"I've tasked Shimmer into looking into a few things for us, but somehow, Shift's magic kept the girl alive for _years_ , without food or water and with a steel spike through her heart, so no blood circulation to get oxygen to her brain, yet she's proven to be highly intelligent and a very fast learner."

"Intriguing. Yet you say she wouldn't be right for my Division, Kermit? An unkillable operative would be quite useful, in my opinion."

"I didn't say she wouldn't be good for Operations; just that her morphing abilities are lacking in comparison to… Chamel's. Shift has the largest core I've ever heard about, it's like she's nearly pure magic. She has vast potential, but is currently untrained; which is why Mace and Shimmer are here," Saul waved to the two junior Unspeakables then turned to face Kamagiri directly, "I want to send Mace, or rather Karli, into Hogwarts to work with Nymora in training Lia, concealing all connections to the DoM while doing so. While there she will also investigate Whitebeard's interest in Shift, the supposed curse on the DADA position that apparently no one's looked into before, and anything else that appears suspicious. Shimmer, or Alex, will assist her as needed; whether from here or within the school as well is yet to be determined," he added to Meléti. "Thoughts?"

"I like the thought of training the girls before they get here; especially Shift, so she doesn't learn the wrong way first," Meléti said nodding.

Kamagiri looked at Mace and Shimmer, "Getting these two into Hogwarts without Whitebeard interfering could be an issue."

"I have some thoughts on that," Shimmer said quietly with a sidelong glance at Mace. She then started laying out her idea and the five of them began picking out potential problems and refining the operation parameters.

-RISEN-


	8. To Hogwarts

-RISEN-

To Hogwarts

* * *

The next two months flew past in a blur of languages and practical lessons. Since Andromeda was asking 'Uncle' Saul for the crystals, she and Nymora both took advantage to learn a lot more than just Hebrew and Aramaic, starting with Greek, Latin, German, and French. They had wanted to learn more, but already having to learn two completely new writing systems and dozens of variants and accents for the basic symbols used in English, they simply didn't have the time to practice the movements enough to really ground the languages into their heads; especially for her to pass for having Hebrew as a native language. It kind of helped her that she'd only been reading and writing in English for about a year, if she counted her time with the Unspeakables temporally rather than chronologically.

To further confuse anyone looking for Harry Potter, she translated her birthday from 31 July, 1980 to the Hebrew version of 18 Av, 5740, which would shift around a bit from year to year, but then went with Nymora's suggestion to shift it to the last day of the seventh month, which would be the 30th of Tishrei, 5740 or rather the 21st of October, 1979; ten days, rather than three months, before Nymora's own birthday of All Hallows' Eve, while keeping 1991 as her first year for Hogwarts. The problem with that was the shifting nature of the Hebrew calendar in comparison to the Gregorian calendar used by the majority of the world, including the British, wherein the 30th of Tishrei is the 8th of October this year. Trying to keep track of that shifting day could get annoying, but it would probably be worth it in the end.

Now was the time to put all of her training to the test, and she was looking forward to the challenge.

Andromeda, Nymora and Saul had all taken a lot of time the last couple of months to work on her Ochlophobia and Kinetophobia issues, and though she had gotten to the point that she could at least function somewhat during her panic attacks, they hadn't figured out a way to prevent them; which made walking through King's Cross to reach Platform 9 and Three-Quarters a right chore. Thankfully they had arrived very early to compensate, so the actual platform was nearly empty when they arrived. Since Nymora was a prefect, the two of them chose the first compartment behind the Prefect's Compartment and changed into their school uniforms. Wedging her trunk between the seats, she sat on the floor of the compartment and pulled out a notebook, pen, and her books on Magical Theory and English Runes to continue her research into the power of words.

At 10:00, Nymora left to help guide lost students through the barrier and onto the train, promising to check in with her before going to the Prefect's Meeting at 11:00. It wasn't ten minutes before the door slid open again to reveal a bushy haired brunette, "Mind if I join you? What are you working on? Are you a new student too? Are…"

"Shhh!" Lia replied holding a single finger before her mouth, interrupting the girl.

"Sorry," she looked abashed.

"First… I'm Lia Monroe. Who are you?"

The other girl blushed, "Sorry. I'm Hermione Granger."

"Well then. Greetings Ms. Granger. Yes, you may join me, though you might find it boring. I'm working on Magical Theory and Runes…"

"So, you aren't a first year?"

Lia sighed, holding up her hand to stop Hermione, "I am a first year, Ms. Granger. I should warn you… jumping to conclusions, rattling off a million questions without waiting for answers, and interrupting people will get you in trouble."

Hermione cocked her head to the side, "But I read that the Study of Ancient Runes isn't offered until third year?"

"Just because it isn't taught until third year, Ms. Granger, doesn't mean I can't study it before then."

"Neat! Can I take a look at your notes, Lia?"

"Sure, but they probably won't do you any good."

"Why?"

"Can you read Hebrew?"

"No…" Hermione replied sadly. "Are you Jewish then?"

"Nope. My mum wasn't so I wouldn't be even if I was raised in temple. It also seems that you have a lot to learn."

"Pardon?"

"I'm going to guess that you are Muggleborn, Ms. Granger?"

Hermione nodded.

"Have you noticed that I keep calling you ' _Miss_ Granger' instead of using your given name?"

Hermione nodded again, a scowl of though crossing her features.

"It is improper to use someone's given name until that person gives you leave to do so."

"Oh… OH! Sorry, Ms. Monroe. Please call me 'Hermione'."

"Thank you, Hermione. You may call me 'Lia'." The next forty minutes or so were filled with the sound of turning pages as Hermione read 'her favorite book,' _Hogwarts, A History_ , only occasionally asking Lia questions.

When Nymora returned, she brought a chubby boy with her, "Wotcher Lia… oh hello," she said addressing Hermione, "I hope you don't mind, but I promised Madam Longbottom that her grandson could sit with us."

Lia stood and curtsied, "Greetings Heir Longbottom. I am Heiress Lia Monroe, and this is Hermione Granger," she said with a slight hand wave to indicate Hermione, "please call me Lia."

"I'm N-neville," he replied with a nervous shutter. "Monroe? I thought…"

"That is something for us to discuss in private, Neville."

"But…"

"Neville… not here, okay?"

"A-alright."

"What are you two talking about?" Hermione interjected.

"House business. Don't worry about it, Ms. Granger. I'm Tonks, by the way."

"Please, call me Hermione, Ms. Tonks… and you too _Heir_ Longbottom?"

"No 'miss'… just Tonks, Hermione."

"Um, Nymora?"

"Yes, Lia?"

"Don't you have a meeting to get to?"

Nymora yipped, then tripped exiting the compartment to go to the Prefect's Meeting.

"What's 'House Business'?"

Lia looked at Hermione for a moment, "Let me see if I can make this simple for you… if Sarah Armstrong-Jones had something private to discuss with James Ogilvy, do you think you had a right to know what they were talking about?"

"What? No… but they're Royals!"

"And Neville and I are Heirs to Ancient and Noble Houses. Not quite the same, I guess… there's something like six hundred people between Neville and the throne… I'm a bit further down the line. There are things we have to do and discuss privately. We call that 'House Business.'"

"Oh…" Hermione muttered, somewhat dispirited.

"Granger… are you related to Hector Dagworth-Granger?" Neville asked.

"How can I be? I'm a Muggleborn."

"So was my mother, at least that's what she thought growing up, but she was Heiress to the Venerable House of Ralston. You should get an inheritance test at Gringott's. You never know."

All talk paused in the cabin as a passel of bright-red haired people passed just out side their compartment on the train. Much of what was said was muffled due to the charms on the windows, but the mother was obviously distraught about something, looking around as if she'd lost one of her many children. Neville, Hermione, and Lia went back to, or began, reading to pass the time.

"Lia?" Hermione asked a few minutes later as the noise level began to die down.

"Hmm?"

"If your mom was an heiress to a magical house, how was she a Muggleborn?"

"Her parents were Squibs."

The door to their compartment slid open just as Hermione asked, "Squibs?"

The red head at the door sneered, "You really don't want to talk about those losers if you know what's good for you. Just forget about them like everyone else does."

"My family thought I was a Squib until my Hogwarts letter came…" Neville muttered quietly.

"Nobody asked you, carrot-top," Lia replied to the interloper with a hint of anger in her tone, "Why did you barge into someone else's conversation anyway?"

The face of the boy in the doorway turned as red as his hair in anger, "Harry Potter's supposed to be on this train. I should have known not to ask the Longbottom Squib or a couple of Muggles about him." He left, slamming the compartment door closed before any of them could respond.

"And who was that unpleasant fellow?" Lia asked.

"He was a Weasley," Neville answered, "not sure which one. They're rather poor and don't come to any of the big, annual Ministry or Family events, balls, or festivals."

"Balls… as in dancing? Shtuyót! Nobody said I had to learn how to _dance_!"

Hermione gave Lia a weird look, "I don't know what you just said but… language, Lia."

Lia snickered in return.

"I could…" Neville started meekly, then tried to sound a bit more confidant, "I could teach you… if you want…"

"I think I'd like that," Lia said quietly, while Hermione nodded agreement.

"Back to my question though; what's a Squib?"

"You know how a Muggleborn is a witch or wizard born of Muggles? Squibs are the opposite," Neville said quietly, as if divulging a dirty secret.

"That's… not actually true, Neville," Lia stated plainly. "According to Uncle Saul; If you ignore the 'Pureblood' rhetoric and nonsense the ignorant masses spout off about the topic, everyone has magic. It's only the amount that differs."

"Huh?" Neville uttered, seemingly lost.

"How to put this… okay… think of magic as the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet. A Muggle has two or three letters… not much they can do with those. A Squib has seven or eight… they might be able to do something with them, but again not much. Your average witch or wizard has about twenty to twenty-three… might not be able to do everything, but can do quite a bit… especially if they get a bit creative. Really powerful witches and wizards also have some of the accented characters used in other languages as well. Then there are some, however… like the headmaster supposedly… that know another alphabet entirely."

"Huh…" Neville said again, pondering what Lia described with a bit more understanding.

"There's also a barrier effect, generally around the ten letter point, which switches magic from passive to active. Squibs can actually have active magic, which is where some of the greatest Muggle magicians, like Harry Houdini and David Copperfield, come from, while there are really powerful people with passive magic, like my grandmother, Heather Goodspeak. Uncle Saul told me some about her this summer; she had a lot of magic, but while she couldn't channel it herself, she could 'allow' others to syphon off some of her power to boost their own."

"What!" Neville exclaimed, like he'd never heard of that possibility.

"It's why she worked for the Unspeakables, even though she was technically a Squib."

"They used her like a battery…" Hermione commented, somewhat disturbed by the concept.

Lia looked at Hermione, "It was voluntary… though I supposed you could describe her function like that. She also did a lot of research for them, according to Uncle Saul."

"Why did you say 'supposedly' about the headmaster's power level?" Hermione asked, "Isn't he the most powerful wizard alive? That's what all the books say."

"Hm… yes and no. As we grow up, our magic grows too. For those with passive magic, and going back to the letter example, they might learn one additional character every couple of decades, while those with active magic might learn a new one, possibly two, every decade. The reason they seem to 'top out' at a certain point would be that, as we age our bodies begin to break down. Passive magic does little to help counter the effect, so Muggles and Squibs tend to die younger than witches and wizards. Conversely, active magic does aid in regenerating our bodies, so healing is faster and we live longer; but at the same time, the effect is cumulative, so we use more and more of our magic to sustain the effect the older we get. So while the headmaster might be really powerful, he's also really old, so he is likely using a lot of his magic just to sustain himself and uses bursts of magic to 'show off' and make people think he still has all the power they think he had fifty years ago. He could, don't get me wrong as there are other factors in play, but it's unlikely."

The discussions turned to much lighter topics, such as their anticipations regarding their new school based on the textbooks, only interrupted a few hours later when the snack lady stopped by with a trolley full of candies, and the resulting search for Trevor, Neville's toad, who was discovered missing a short while later. Lia had bravely 'volunteered' to stay in the compartment in case the toad returned while Neville and Hermione went compartment by compartment in search of the little amphibian. She still hadn't mentioned her little issue with crowds to them, and was getting nervous about what Nymora had described the Sorting Ceremony like that she would be attending in a few short hours.

While they were gone, a very pale, skinny, white-blond haired boy slammed the compartment door open startling her. With a sneer on his face, after a brief glance at her notebook and ink pen, he spoke to one of the very heavyset boys behind him, "I thought I smelled something foul coming from this compartment. I can't believe they let so many filthy Mudbloods into Hogwarts. I may just have to see about having father change the entrance requirements… retroactively."

"Please do cousin. Make sure they ban bigotry and nepotism while you're at it," Nymora said from behind them.

"You're no cousin of mine, Freak. Come on Crabbe, Goyle… the air around here stinks."

"That's just your upper lip, Drakypoo… now run a long before you get into trouble," the Hufflepuff prefect said making little shooing motions with her hands.

"When my father hears about this…" the boy sneered and left without finishing his threat.

"Who was that?" Hermione asked as she, Neville, who was carrying his toad, and Nymora entered the compartment.

"Draconis Malfoy," Nymora replied looking intently into Lia's panic-stricken eyes, "my jerk of a cousin." Couching down, she tried to drag Lia's eyes back into focus and calm the younger Metamorph's racing heart.

"Draconis? Like the star?" Hermione continued her inquiry.

Nymora nodded, "Yeah… but I think he prefers just Draco."

"What was that he called Lia? Mud…"

"Stop Hermione. That's a bigoted slur against Muggleborns. It means 'dirty blood,' inferior and undesirable to the 'pureblooded' morons like him." Nymora then did something she'd only contemplated before, she tilted Lia's head to the side and kissed her. When she broke the kiss, Lia sat there dazed for a moment, though her panic attack seemed to have ended.

"Nym… Nymora? Huh?"

"Welcome back love."

"Wha… what… happened?"

"Nothing you need worry about right now. Just keep up those exercises that Uncle Saul gave you."

"Are you alright, Lia?" Neville asked, not having noticed the two girls kissing.

Lia shook her head and replied, "I'm fine," not wanting to alarm them with her problems.

"We should put on our uniforms then," Hermione said gaily, "I expect we'll be there soon."

The remainder of the trip passed without further incident.

-RISEN-

Chaos ensued outside their compartment as soon as the train pulled to a complete stop, but Nymora had a plan for that. Pulling out a traveling cloak, she draped it over Lia's shoulders and pulled up the hood, blocking a good portion of the younger witch's peripheral view. Then whispered, "Lia… stick with Neville and Granger until the sorting. Keep the hood up if it helps. I have duties to perform, so I have to leave you for now, but I promise I'll see you later tonight… especially in the Badger's Den if you join the Cete."

Lia just nodded, her fears already working to silence her.

"Be strong, Lia. I'll see you in a bit."

With that, Nymora left, pushing Lia, Hermione, and Neville in the direction of a huge man, easily three times as tall as Lia, and probably twice her height in width, waving a lantern about and calling for the first years to gather about him. Lia was so focused on not giving into her fears that, had Hermione not been holding her hand, she would have been left standing on the platform as the gigantic man began leading the new students down a dark gravelly path towards a lake. She barely registered it when Hermione and Neville paused to gape at their first sight of the castle, or the two maneuvering her into a little boat, though she could tall that Hermione at least, while concerned, seemed to understand some of what was going on with Lia.

Lia was so focused inward to stave off her impending panic attack that she nearly missed the speech by the tall black haired witch in the emerald green robes declare that the houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin, would be 'something like your family' during their years at Hogwarts, but the since of pride she infused into her tone when saying 'Gryffindor', and derision when saying 'Slytherin', clearly displayed the bias of the stern faced woman. It was the ghosts bursting through the wall in front of her, however, that broke her.

-RISEN-


	9. The First Night

-RISEN-

The First Night

* * *

Lia didn't know how much time had past before a very worried Nymora was crouching before her as she sat hunched in on herself in the corner of the anteroom the First Years had been waiting in.

"I didn't see you with the others and got worried. What happened?"

Lia just stared at Nymora blankly and shook her head.

Nymora sighed, "Come on. They're going alphabetically, so your name should be coming up soon."

"Malone, Roger!"

"See they're in the M's already," Nymora pointed out to the silenced girl who was shaking like a leaf in a storm.

"Hufflepuff!" The curly haired blond boy moved off to the on the right.

"Midgen, Eloise!"

A black haired, heavy-set girl with some form of skin irritation took the boy's place on the stool at the front of the hall.

"I know it's scary for you, but we need to get in there."

"Gryffindor!"

"Monroe, Lillian!"

"Oh! You're up!" Nymora said, walking Lia towards the front of the hall, with an arm wrapped around younger girl's shoulders.

"Ms. Monroe. If you please." The stern-faced witch from before said waving her hand towards the stool.

Lia was well on her way to being flat out terrified, but Nymora helped her up to the stool. The snickers and pig-like snorts coming from a pasty blond haired boy and the overly large boys beside him at the far left table, triggered something in her and made her angry.

 _"Oh my…"_ a male sounding voice said as the dark brim of a raggedy old hat dropped over her eyes. Lia stiffened, not sure where this voice was coming from. _"Not to worry, not to worry… I'm… oh now that's interesting."_ The voice continued, doing a piss poor job of trying to comfort the scared girl on the stool. " _Where to put you? Such interesting secrets! Good thing for you, I can't share them,"_ the voice chuckled. _"I see lots of courage in you, such courage… but it's locked away… Gryffindor would be good for you once you get past your fears, but until then… the Pride is out… and such_ ambition _, too bad Slytherin would crush you in the Nest before you could realize that potential. You've a very keen mind, which would stand you well in Ravenclaw… but you're just getting started so the Aery would not be very welcoming to you… while the Cete… yes… while your…_ issues _… may be a problem at first, you will do very nicely in…"_

"Hufflepuff!"

The stern-faced witch pulled the hat from her head, as Lia moved off to her left to join Susan at the Hufflepuff Table; Nymora quickly joining her there.

"Moon, Lillian!" The witch called out the next name on her list.

Lia sat ignoring the world around her for the most part; barely registering Nymora telling her to stick with her betrothed when they reached the Badger's Den. Then another name was called that caught her attention, and Nymora stiffened beside her.

"Potter, Harry!"

Whispers broke out across the hall, but Lia just looked at Nymora in confusion. The older Metamorph shrugged.

"Potter, Harry! Where is Mr. Potter?"

The confusion spread through the hall as the whispered sounds of awe changed to disappointment. A look of fear passed across the face of the old man at the middle of the head table before he masked it behind his twinkling blue eyes and benevolent looking smile.

"Very well," the stern witch muttered, then checked her list again, "Rivers, Oliver!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Roper, Sophia!"

Lia started looking at the various professors along the head table. She wasn't sure what she'd seen, but something about them had made her uneasy.

"Hufflepuff!"

A mousey brown-haired girl sat down across from Lia; between an aristocratic looking boy and Roger Malone.

"Runcorn, Samara!"

"Slytherin!"

"Scott, Karli!"

There was something about the man with the lank, greasy, black hair and the twitchy man in the purple turban… something Lia just couldn't quite catch.

"Hufflepuff!"

"Smith, Sally!"

"Wotcher Tonks," Ms. Scott whispered to Nymora just loud enough for Lia to hear, "Uncle Saul says hello."

Lia and Nymora stared at the eleven year-old looking girl next to them as Ms. Smith was also added to Hufflepuff.

"Who?" Nymora whispered.

"Uncle Saul thought a mace might come in handy this year," Lia grinned for the first time since entering exiting the Hogwarts Express.

The sorting wrapped up with Gryffindor gaining the red-hair jerk from the train, Ronald Weasley, and the dark skinned Blaise Zabini being added to Slytherin. As the stern-faced witch took the stool and hat away, the old man at the center of the head table rose to address the students, "Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words; And they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

Lia looked at Nymora horrified at the seemingly senile old man.

"He doesn't teach anymore and Professor McGonagall does almost all of his work. Most of us just ignore him whenever we can," Karli said quietly.

Nymora sputtered, "But…"

"You're precious. Just eat, we can talk later," Karli said reaching for the food that had just appeared along the tables.

-RISEN-

After the meal, the Headmaster stood to address the students once more, warning them that the Forbidden Forest was still forbidden and that the third floor corridor on the left hand side was out-of-bounds to any who did not wish to die a most painful death, blatantly ignoring the fact that teenagers are prone to go anywhere they know danger exists. He then led the school in singing the school song, which started off with "Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, Teach us something please," and went downhill from there. Lia was beginning to think coming to Hogwarts was a mistake.

The fifth year prefects collected the new 'Puffs to guide them down to the Badger's Den, taking a right out of the Great Hall and down a short side passage beside the Grand Staircase before descending into what appeared to be a storage area. Several minutes later, the small group stopped in front of what appeared to be a large cask of ale, or something, while Steven described how to enter the common room. Rapping on the barrel with his knuckles summoned the oddest looking creature Lia had ever seen.

She, for the Hogwarts crested tea-towel she wore definitely showed off her figure, bowed to the group, "Yous knocked? How cans Twizzle serve yous?" Her large teal eyes swiveling from person to person as if cataloguing each one.

"Greetings Twizzle," Steven addressed the wispy haired creature, "These are the new first year 'Puffs."

Maranda, the female prefect, reached over and twisted the tap before opening the barrel like a door, "Twizzle does a wonderful job guarding the entrance to the Den. Only members of the Cete are allowed through here as Twizzle has to unlock the inner hatch for us to pass."

"Twizzle do," with that Twizzle popped away, fairly beaming with the praise of the prefect, and the other side of the empty barrel opened allowing the group entrance into what appeared to be a lush indoor garden. Polished brass plates lined the ceiling giving the space a much larger appearance while amplifying the light in the area. Blossoms of every color were broken up into zones to designate different portions for different activities or groups.

A kind looking middle-aged witch with a sunflower decorating the tiny hat she wore to cover her disheveled grey hair greeted them warmly, "Welcome to Hufflepuff. I'm Professor Sprout; your Head of House and Herbology instructor. I see some of you are already noticing the zoning, so let me explain. White is for the ladies, while the purple and black are for you gentlemen. There are no boys or girls here, only young men and young women preparing to take their places in our society and you shall be treated as such. The blue zone is for quiet study and houses our small in-house library. Yellow for gaming and playing around… notice how far it is from the blue zone… you can be louder, but remember to be respectful of your fellow 'Puffs needs as well. The drinks in the fridge are provided by our older students who can go to Hogsmeade on certain weekends. The box on top is for donations to help keep it stocked. Please do not abuse this privilege. The red area for spell practice and is overseen by our house prefects each evening, and myself on Saturdays. Never be afraid to ask for assistance; we're all here to learn. Green denotes our exercise zone. I see some of you have a disliking for that zone already, but you will come to enjoy the benefits of a good work out. Lastly, the orange section… that's where my 'Hufflepuff' office is, though more often than not you will find me in the Greenhouses, where my 'Herbology' office is located so that the students in other houses will also be able to talk with me. Any questions? No? Any door with less than four lights lit can be yours, just let Twizzle, Yeyfn, or Etel know your choice. Alright then, off to bed with you lot. Ladies down the white hall; Gents to the black. Your class schedules will be delivered to your rooms in the morning. Good night."

The other girls were excited to find rooms, and Susan was dragging a girl she called Hannah down the main hallway, while Megan, Sally, and Sophie, chose to see what the lower hallway had to offer, and Nymora led Lia and Karli up to two floors to a nearly deserted hallway.

"That was an interesting speech from Professor Sprout. Nothing like the 'boys on the left, girls on the right' I got from the Gryffindor prefect last time 'round. McGonagall didn't even show up. Much closer to what Shimmer described Flitwick's as, though his had lot larger library instead of a fridge."

Lia nodded her head and Nymora called out, "Yeyfn!"

A black skinned creature, similar to Twizzle yet clearly male, with luminous red eyes appeared with a pop, "Yous called Yeyfn?"

"Yes, Yeyfn. The three of us will be using this room this year. Please have out trunks delivered when you have a moment."

Yeyfn nodded with a, "Yeyfn do," before popping away.

Entering the room, Lia wasn't sure what to expect, but a large open space with floor to ceiling bay windows overlooking the lake wasn't it. The glass door between the two massive windows led to the lavatory and oversized walk-in shower that also contained a matching bay window. To the sides of the main area were the students' bedrooms, if you could call an alcove that was all bed concealed behind a semi-transparent, gauzy, yellow curtain a 'room.' For all intents and purposes, the roommates had zero privacy from one another. The center of the main area contained a circular table with rounded couches on either side for a space to study and do their homework. The final wall, the one they entered through, contained a large empty bookshelf to one side and a notice board one the other.

"Hope you're not shy," Karli said facetiously as she took in the apartment.

"The rooms are a little different on each floor, but for the most part yeah. I like the quiet up here," Nymora said softly, "but it's kind of depressing to think about how few students there actually are in the school if it was built for so many yet has so much empty space."

Lia tilted her head as if to ask, "What do you mean?"

"These rooms use space expansion charms, so they take up much less room in the hallway. Did you notice how long the hallways were? Or the fact that the other side of the hall was blank? I talked to Etel a couple of years ago about it and he opened a room over there for me to look at. You wouldn't know it, but the sleeping alcoves are for bunk-beds as well; meaning this is a room for eight. Likely just over half of the rooms that are open are in use, but most are only double or triple occupancy. There's enough space for at least eight times as many students as we currently have. What happened to them all?"

Karli sighed, "A lot of this is speculation, but Croaker backs it up. It might have been only a few hundred Witches and Wizards, and a few thousand Muggles, killed, but the fear during the war drove many more to seek futures elsewhere. After Dumbledore announced that the V-man had been defeated over the Wizarding Wireless Network, a lot of people ran out into the streets and started celebrating. The morons forgot about V's minions completely, and with all the breaches in the Statute of Secrecy all the Aurors were tied up dealing with Muggles. There were so many people killed in the next couple of days… well… let just say, the casualty lists for the entire war nearly doubled. Then there were the trials for V's minions where more than half of them claimed the Imperious Defense, and instead of the joyous celebration of life that normally comes after a war causing a sharp rise in birth rates, the confusion and doubt still reigned for a long time; so our losses were never replenished."

Lia grabbed her trunk and dragged it over to an alcove, then started stripping for bed.

"So what's your real name?" Nymora asked Karli.

"Karli Scott for now. You'll find that we Unspeakables have some rather interesting toys to play with at in the future."

"Like the one that turned you back into an eleven-year-old?"

"Yes," she said with a snort, "unfortunately it comes with biological drawbacks as well."

"So you have to…?"

"Yes. I know you and Lia don't really need to, but if Lia is trying to conceal her abilities it might be wise for her to participate too."

Lia looked over at the two of them with a puzzled look.

"Did you read the locked section at the back of the McGill book?" Nymora asked.

Lia shook her head.

"Well…"

The next half hour as the three of them got ready for bed were both revealing and somewhat disturbing to the younger Metamorph, and though the beds were very comfortable, sleep was elusive that night as she thought of all the older girls had told her.

-RISEN-


	10. The First Week of Classes

-RISEN-

* * *

Disclaimer - Harry Potter and all subsidiary characters and stories belong to the copyright holders... one of which, sadly, I am not... this is all just for fun.

* * *

The First Week of Classes

* * *

Lia woke to an unusual grunting moan coming from the couches in the middle of the room. Turning over she was caught… mesmerized… by Nymora's sweat glistening pendulums bouncing as Karli moaned beneath her. She must have squeaked, or something, because Nymora looked up at her and said, "Morning, luv. Want to join?"

Lia was utterly confused, simply shaking her head 'no.' Sure she'd read the book… sure she'd heard the two of them the night before… sure she knew all the reasons for it… but… that… she couldn't think of doing that.

"If you plan… to keep… your gifts a… a secret, you should…oh Merlin, _Tonks_ … should prepare… for when Tonks isn't… isn't going to… be _here_!"

Lia slipped out of her sleeping alcove and realized she'd fallen asleep in just her panties. She must have been really tired last night, she usually had a long-shirt on at night. Shrugging, she started gathering her things to go take a shower, 'not like we can hide anything from each other anyway.'

Nymora stood up, leaving Karli apparently passed out in a boneless heap, and Lia saw something she hadn't expected, "I thought you didn't like the boy bits."

"I don't really… oh… this," she said pointing to herself, "risk-free penetration. It's a variant of something I read about in one of mother's medical texts, 'Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia' or some such." She lifted it up, displaying herself to Lia, "see… pillar but no stones… the dangly boy bits aren't there. This is just hyper-engorgement and a bit of flesh molding. Took a bit to figure out, but I can teach you how to do this too if you like."

"Um… maybe later," Lia muttered as she fled to the washroom.

-RISEN-

Water poured over Lia's neck and back as she absentmindedly fingered the scar over her heart, one of the four scars she couldn't get rid of, letting her left hand slowly rub over her body to wash away the sweat and oil she'd accumulated since her previous shower. She could somewhat understand why she couldn't get rid of this scar, and the corresponding one on her back, that had been made by the steel spike her 'Uncle' had driven through her chest; the odd, lightning bolt shaped one on her forehead refused to go away, but at least she could move that one a bit to hide it in her hairline better, supposedly acquired the night her parents died; but the odd scar on her right hip, sort of shaped like a curvy number seven with a jag in the middle of the downward leg, she had no clue about.

"It's really much more fun if someone else does that for you, you know?"

Lia jumped and turned to see Karli stepping into the shared shower space, suddenly realizing she the de-aged girl meant as her left hand came out from between her legs, "What? I… uh… I wasn't… uh…"

"Don't worry about it," the honeysuckle blonde witch said, waiving off any reply, "I'm sure you'll accept soon enough. No need to push yourself into anything."

Lia hurriedly finished her shower and left to get ready for the first day of classes.

-RISEN-

Lia escaped from the room before Karli finished her shower, and there was no sign of Nymora. Carefully retracing her steps through the house commons and out along the path past the storage rooms and kitchens, she trudged up to the first floor and made her way to the, thankfully nearly deserted, Great Hall for breakfast. Nymora popped up about ten minutes later.

"Wotcher Lia. I see you made it up here alright; though you were supposed to stay in the Den until you got your schedule and a tour from the prefects."

"A tour?"

"Yep! We seventh year prefects handle Mondays and Fridays, Wednesday is done by the fifth years, Thursday is sixth year prefects leaving out of the Den around eight am the first day, with a half hour layover in here for anyone that doesn't enjoy the breakfast stuffs the elves deliver to our house commons in the morning. Tuesdays are a bit different, but you don't need to worry about that. Here's your schedule by the way."

Picking up the parchment the Pink haired prefect laid beside her plate, Lia read:

* * *

Monday – Charms 10:00am (HS Flitwick); Transfiguration 1:00pm (HS McGonagall); History 2:30pm (HS Binns)

Tuesday – DADA x2 8:30am (HS Quirrell); Herbology x2 2:30pm (HS Sprout)

Wednesday – Magical Theory 10:00am (HS Flitwick); Astronomy 12:00am (HR Sinistra)

Thursday – Charms 10:00am (HS Flitwick); Transfiguration 1:00pm (HS McGonagall); Flying 4:00pm (HR Hooch)

Friday – Potions x2 1:00pm (HR Snape); Magical Hygiene and You 4:00pm (HS Snape/Sprout)

* * *

"Nothing before ten except DADA on Tuesdays… and… no classes with the Gryffindors?"

"Eh…" Nymora shrugged, "probably just works out better that way. If I recall right, I almost never saw a Slytherin in class fourth year… wouldn't have had Jamerson not been in Muggle Studies with me… requirement for the Auror Program, you know?"

"Oh… that's interesting. Um… how do you know what you should take though?"

"That's easy. Other than the career guides in the commons… in the blue zone… Professor Sprout gives an awesome lecture towards the end of second year that goes over it pretty well, and also does several sessions of career counseling each year to help guide us where we need to be; and you can always ask questions of the older students and professors."

"Good to know. Hey… where did you disappear off to this morning?"

"Missing me already and change your mind about joining Karli and me in a bit of morning playtime?"

"What? No!"

"Just joking. Prefect meeting… first and last day of every year and every Monday first thing. You know… setting up our own schedules for various in-house duties, night patrols of the castle, distributing the class schedules throughout the house, that kind of thing."

"I would have thought a house-elf would put out the schedules…"

"You'd think that, wouldn't you? Nope. I think the headmaster just wants to try forcing everyone into the Great Hall for breakfast on the first day; see Professor McGonagall over there passing out the Gryff's schedules?" Lia nodded, "I like Professor Sprout's way much better… even if it has meant a little extra work for me once a year. Unlike what I hear from the other houses, she gives a reason for the position to actually exist."

"What's your schedule like today?"

"Me? I don't have anything until 2:30… Arithmancy… then nothing until tomorrow."

"One class all day?"

"Yep! Would have had two, but I didn't take Divination."

"But isn't that…?"

"Nah… you'll find you need all that extra time for research and homework. I think they've scheduled things to be challenging on some days to give us a taste of what life beyond these halls will be like; but that's just a guess. Come on, let's head back to the Den and I'll show you what's available to the Cete. We've still got nearly two hours to kill before the tour."

"That should be fun."

-RISEN-

Four hours later and three floors up, Lia and Karli joined the twelve other Hufflepuff and Slytherin students in the Charms classroom for their fist class. Agitated from her Ochlophobia, the pair of non-standard girls chose to sit in the last row with a pair of girls from Slytherin who appeared to want to sit as far from their fellow housemates as possible. She knew Karli was doing something to her, but Lia could tell it was only blunting her fear, perhaps in an effort to help her own mind compensate and overcome this issue, but it wasn't enough to allow her to be assertive with the two new girls sitting at their desk.

"Greetings students," a squeaky voice called from behind a stack of books on the teacher's desk, which belonged to a very short man, with obvious goblin ancestry, working his way to stand upon. "Welcome to your first class at Hogwarts." Summoning the register from somewhere behind his desk, the little professor took roll quickly, barely pausing long enough for the students whose name he had just called to indicate their presence.

"Great! Let's begin." The little man said clapping his hands together sharply, "I'll cover this in much more detail in your Magical Theory class this Wednesday, but it's is important to understand the format of this class this year… who can tell me the three classes with required, practical wand work involved? Mr. Hopkins?"

The curly, copper haired boy in the first row looked startled to be called upon, "Um… Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration?"

"Correct! Two points to Hufflepuff. Now which of the three is most difficult to learn? Mr. Malfoy?"

The blond, slick-haired boy two rows up from Lia replied with a verbal sneer, "That is a trick question _professor_. Transfiguration takes the most power, while Defense requires the most practice."

"Precisely! Two points to Slytherin," the professor returned, completely disregarding the boy's attitude. "Each year you take these three classes, you will have one session of theory and one of practicum. For the first year, you will have no more than two of these sessions in a day and for second year, no more than three. This is to ensure that we are not overtaxing your undeveloped Magical Cores too much, while still imparting the necessary information and usage to help your magic grow to its best potential. For this reason, first year Charms and first and second year Transfiguration have been split onto two days each week, while all other classes are held only once weekly. Questions? No? Shame… Potions and Herbology, the classes taught by the heads of your two houses, also fall into the same pattern of theory and practicum, but as they are much less taxing on your magic, they are always taught in single sessions. Now then, let us begin learning the enlightening charm, Lumos!"

They didn't pull out their wands during that first session, but Lia did find the information interesting as little Professor Flitwick described the flows of magic and used much easier to understand terminology than the book had, practically bringing the material to life right before their eyes.

-RISEN-

Lunch was a chaotic affair, and even with Karli's 'help,' Lia was left trembling in fear by the time the first year Hufflepuffs made it to McGonagall's classroom on the first floor of the South Tower for Transfiguration. Desperately trying to focus on only the desk in front of her, Lia managed to pull out a bound sheaf of parchment for notes and titled the second 'page' as "23 Elul, 5751 Transfiguration Y1S1 Monroe, Lia" while taking deep, shaky breaths; of course only those that could read Aramaic would have been able to understand the odd, blocky squiggles she'd written, but that wasn't her problem.

Professor McGonagall's sudden transformation from a small grey cat with dark, squarish circles around her pale blue eyes, into her normal stern-faced self striding towards the door really didn't help calm Lia down any; quite the opposite in fact. Luckily, Karli had the notes already so Lia could catch up whatever she missed due to the fear induced fog clouding her thoughts.

By the end of class, she had managed to make her matchstick look like a shiny, wooden needle, but had had no luck in getting it to turn silver.

The third, and final, class for her on Mondays was her first session of History with the ghostly Professor Binns. Nymora had told all of the first year 'Puffs that morning to not bother taking notes as all of Binn's lectures had been transcribed word-for-word and were available in the blue-zone of the Den, cross referenced with all the corrections and updated information that almost no one ever finds. Lia and Karli spent most of that class period with Susan Bones, who was much calmer when focused on work, and Hannah Abbot, Susan's 'best friend since birth' as she put it, doing homework for Charms and Transfiguration. Ernie McMillian had at first looked shocked that they would dare not pay attention to a professor, but like most of the class, had fallen into a glazed stupor within the first fifteen minutes and was drooling on his desk well before the halfway point in the hour and a half long lecture time.

Immediately upon their return to their room in the Hufflepuff Den, Karli shucked her uniform and started rubbing herself vigorously. Lia wasn't sure what she should do, physically she had no need to do that, but if she was to blend in with her peers… she shook herself and began undressing slowly. Nymora showed up a couple of minutes later, dropping her Arithmancy book on the table and kneeling before Karli to help the de-aged witch satisfy her needs before turning to Lia and offering the same. The young Metamorph didn't know exactly what was being offered, but decided to take a chance and find out, shyly spreading her legs with a slight nod to the older changeling. What Nymora did to her with her _tongue_ Lia would never forget, the sensations were almost painful but she thoroughly enjoyed it at the same time; this was something she would have to explore further.

Nymora had Red-Zone to lead after dinner and Foreign Magics club on Wednesdays, so Karli decided to set up their Unspeakable training sessions for Tuesday and Thursday evenings, not like they were interested in Ghoul Studies or Music anyway; though Lia did have some interest in the Magical Art class on Friday nights and so chose to attend its' corollary, Muggle Arts, class that evening to see if it would have any appeal for her.

After a somewhat less chaotic supper in the Great Hall, again aided by Karli's unseen spell-work, Lia made her way to the Art class on the Fifth floor. It's kind of hard to tell if you would like something when you are the only one to show up. Not even Professor Burbage, the Muggle Studies and Art instructor bothered to arrive for the club's scheduled meeting time. Lia thought it was a rather sad situation and didn't give her much hope for the Magical Art class on Friday; at least that one had the Runes teacher, Professor Babbling, leading it, so it still help some hope of promise. 'Maybe it's just a first night thing,' Lia thought, and decided she'd ask around some to find out. For tonight however, she gave up and joined Nymora's 'class' in the Red-Zone and started learning a few of the more advanced spells that her fellow Cete-mates were working on.

-RISEN-

Tuesday morning started much the same as Monday had, only this time Karli was leaning back, the small swells on her chest heaving for breath, and all Lia could see of Nymora was her hands and the large bush of spiky pink hair shaking between Karli's legs.

"Surely you don't need to do that this often…" Lia asked halfheartedly.

Karli looked over at her with bliss glazing her eyes, "need to… no… but want to… oh yeah!"

Lia shook her head and headed into the lavatory to get ready for the day.

-RISEN-

At half past eight, the newest members of the Cete tromped into the temporary Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on the second floor of the North Tower, as the regular classroom was located in the currently forbidden third floor corridor, and were greeted with an overwhelming stench of garlic.

"C-c-c-come in s-s-stu-d-d-dents. P-p-p-please t-t-t-take y-your s-s-s-seats," the pasty-faced professor wearing a very large purple turban said with great difficulty while waving them inside the dimly lit room. Lia supposed it was a good thing this was a double length class as it took the man over half an hour to call roll. Luckily for her, he had written the name and page number of the stinging jinx, Uro, on the board before class, so she could read ahead while waiting for the speech impaired man to catch up.

After another hectic lunch, and a free period in order to calm back down, Karli lead Lia to Greenhouse One where their new Head of House, Professor Sprout, greeted them warmly. Lia was somewhat confused however, when the professor began teaching them how to use the fire making charm, Incendio, to deal with some of the various plants throughout the greenhouses. What puzzled her was that Herbology was supposed to be a non-casting class, so why were they learning spells here? Not that she was complaining.

Like most students, Lia found the Incendio spell was much more fun than the Stinging jinx Q-Q-Q-Quirrell had taught them, though would probably be better classed as a curse and likely much more useful. That evening however, after another round of play between the three girls in which Lia tentatively reciprocated Nymora's attention to her, Karli proved the irritating spell had other uses and would prove to be the better of the two spells for training by setting up a dozen small targets around their room to use for target practice. Lia took Karli's comment of 'If you can't hit the target, what use is fighting?' to heart and really focused on improving her aim. Karli and Nymora both took time during the sessions to work on Occlumency with Lia to further enhance what she'd been taught during her year long day the previous summer.

Wednesday and Thursday passed very quietly, with Professor Sinistra's Astronomy class at midnight in-between. Friday afternoon however brought with it their last two new classes for the week and the surliest man in the castle into their lives, Professor Snape.

There were two dozen work stations in the chilly dungeon chamber the Potions lessons were taught in, half clearly marked as for advanced studies of some kind, so the first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs moved to the remaining stations, carefully avoiding one that held a half-melted cauldron and a thick greyish-green mess that was likely the results of a failed potion from that morning's class. It shouldn't have surprised her, but it was still interesting to observe, the ten wizards and twelve witches file into the two-person desks separating themselves by house and gender, with only Morag MacDougal and Megan Jones mixing the houses together. Lia had turned to ask Karli where Professor Snape was when the door slammed shut and a man with a large hooked nose came striding through the class with his robes billowing behind him as if a great wind was blowing just on him; yet it didn't affect his lank, greasy, black hair at all. He must have been hiding behind the open door to pull off his dramatic entrance, because Lia knew, from her slightly turned stance when it occurred, the man had not come through the doorway.

Sure, it was kind of cheating to have Karli helping her, since the de-aged witch had taken the classes at least once before, and she had some of Nymora's memories stored away in her head as well, but knowledge was knowledge and Lia didn't care where it came from for the most part, nor what others thought of her having and using it. She winced at some of the random OWL and NEWT level questions the man popped off to various students while taking role, knowing it was just an excuse to remove house points for no reason at all; she even lost five house points for answering his question correctly, while he muttered something about 'bloody insufferable know-it-alls.' Though overly strict about some things, at least his grading of potions appeared fair between her house and the Ravenclaws; which was a minor relief after hearing some of the stories about his Gryffindor classes. The worst thing that happened was the ten-point loss to Ravenclaw when Stephen Cornfoot asked Professor Snape to explain the difference between cutting and slicing as the instructions were clear to use one technique but not the other while brewing their boil-cure potions.

At a quarter to four, all the Ravenclaws and the female Hufflepuffs were released from the chilly dungeon, but Lia felt somewhat bad for the four boys who had to stay behind as Professor Snape also taught their section of the Magical Hygiene and You class that rounded out their classes for the week. The girls however were joined by the girls from Slytherin in classroom 102 of the South Tower for their side of the class with Professor Sprout.

"Good afternoon ladies," Professor Sprout addressed them as she entered the room for the small office behind the teacher's desk, "Hmm, I see ten where there ought to be thirteen… where are Miss Bulstrode, Miss Parkinson, and Miss Runcorn?"

"Millie wasn't feeling well, so she went to the Infirmary," Isobel MacDougal replied, "I don't know about Pansy or Mara though."

"Very well. Five points from Slytherin each for Miss Parkinson and Miss Runcorn, and a Detention for each of them as well if they are not here in the next ten minutes. This class is very important for you ladies, perhaps the most important of all of any taught here at Hogwarts; but the information shared here can never be shared with any wizards. I'll pass around a parchment and I ask that you each sign your willingness to protect what you learn in this class, as wizards would either not understand or seek to abuse what we will talk about here."

As the parchment slowly made its' way around the room, Lia noticed Susan Bones hesitate before signing and Daphne Greengrass giving it the evil eye from the seat on the other side of Karli, no one else seemed to have any issue with it. When it reached the last table with Lia, Karli, Daphne and Daphne's friend Tracey Davis, Karli quickly cast a couple of detection charms on it while Daphne did the same.

"A magical contract?" The icy blue-eyed Slytherin asked in a whisper.

"Yeah, looks like it just prevents anyone signing from speaking about the protected information when prohibited persons are around… but that part's a bit vague," Karli returned, just loud enough for the other three girls at her desk to hear. Having already signed one of these contracts before, she knew quite a bit about it already but had to keep up appearances, "It looks safe enough."

"Problem ladies?" Professor Sprout asked, having noticed that they hadn't signed yet.

"No, Professor. We were just looking over a few of the particulars of this," she deliberately didn't call it a contract as she put quill to parchment and signed it, passing it to Lia and then Daphne who both followed suit.

Once Tracey had signed, and the proscribed ten minutes had passed for Pansy and Mara to arrive, Professor Sprout waved her wand and locked the door, before starting in on a vary interesting, though highly uncomfortable, lecture on Witches' health, menstruation, magical growth, and the need for release after magical exertion, including an overview of a few spells they would be learning to prevent undesirable gestation and a few techniques that could aid or enhance their releases.

Sophie Roper, a muggleborn, had several issues with the information presented, but had no counter argument other than it went against what she was raised to believe. This started a new debate discussing the pros and cons of some religious ideals verses the practicalities of magical traditions and practices and how 'doing it the muggle way' would be detrimental to a witch's magic.

About half way through the debate, Sally turned to Lia and said, "You're Jewish, what do they say about all of this?"

Lia didn't exactly want the classes attention focused on her, but knew she needed to correct a few things, "First, I'm Hebrew, not Jewish… that's like saying all Arabs are Muslims… stereotypical crap and completely wrong… therefore, I have no idea or desire to get into a religious debate between Judaism, Christianity, Catholicism, Paganism, or any other religious beliefs. Second, I prefer practicality… if it works and it helps, why not do it until you find something better. Only an idiot would hurt themselves over something like this. It's not saying you have to do anything with anyone, just release the built up magical tensions."

As the session came to a close, Professor Sprout assigned them to read the hidden section at the back of _Growing Up Witch_ by Vance McGill and think up at least two questions for next week's discussion, reminding them that nothing regarding this class could be written down where a wizard might be able to find it.


End file.
